HUMANITARIANISM  IN  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  ENGLISH 

LITERATURE 


BY 

SYLVAN  DIX  HARWOOD 

A.  B.  University  of  Illinois,  1916 


THESIS 

SUBMITTED  IN  PARTIAL  FULFILLMENT  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS 
FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  MASTER  OF  ARTS  IN  ENGLISH 
IN  THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOL  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS, 

1922 


URBANA,  ILLINOIS 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/humanitarianismiOOharw 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOL 


3 / 


-192 


I HEREBY  RECOMMEND  THAT  THE  THESIS  PREPARED  UNDER  MY 


S U PER  V I SION  BY.,  7) /A.  

ENTITLED^  //uma **  / /asua.  n / -r /??  J/7  Jr y/i /* tv //j  ly.  L 


/ / hA&L?L 


'*7 


BE  ACCEPTED  AS  FULFILLING  THIS  PART  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS  FOR 


THE  DEGREE  OF /lia.yh*  H fit/)  //7 


'A.,.//?  V? 





In  Charge  of  Thesis 


Head  of  Department 


Recommendation  concurred  in'* 


Committee 

on 

Final  Examination* 


Required  for  doctor’s  degree  but  not  for  master's 


CONTE  N T S 


CHAPTER  I 

Page 

THE  ENGLISH  HUMANI  TAR  IAN  TEMPER  BEFORE  1726  1 

The  normal  English  attitude  toward  animal  life  in 
the  Middle  Ages  and  in  the  Renaissance.  The 


scientific  spirit  of  the  seventeenth  century 
the  Royal  Society  dilletantism  and  vi- 
visection. Apologists  and  satirists  of  the  new 
age.  Seventeenth  and  early  eighteenth  century 
conceptions  of  man.  Transition  in  the  early 
eighteenth  century. 


CHAPTER  II 

HUMAN  I TAR  IAN  ISM  AND  THE  SLAVE  TRADE  24 

The  Christian  campaign  for  converts  in  the  New 
World.  The  Restoration  conception  of  the 
noble  savage.  Eighteenth  century  sentimental- 
ists and  their  belief  in  the  sleeve's  inherent 
nobility.  The  brotherhood  of  man  and  natural 
rights . 


CHAPTER  III 


HUMAN! TARIAHI SM  AND  THE  LOWER  ANIMALS  53 

The  changing  attitude  toward  the  country  and  the 
consequent  clmnge  in  attitude  toward  animals. 

The  philosophic  justification  of  humanitarian- 
ism.  The  status  of  animals  in  a man- ruled  world 
as  stated  by  the  humanitarians.  The  applica- 
tion of  the  new  sensibility  to  British  in- 
stitutions. widening  sympathies  with  lower 
as  well  as  higher  animals.  Increased  obser- 
vation of  animals  — ■ the  skylark  in  eighteenth 
century  poetry.  Conclusion. 

CHAPTER  IV 


THE  CULMINATION  OP  HUMANITARIAN  PEELING  IN  THE  CENTURY 

Cowper  and  the  spiritual  kinship.  Blake  and  the 
ideal  kinshio.  Darwin  and  the  scientific  kin- 
ship. 


95. 


C_0JIJP_E_1IJDJS 


CONCLUSION 


CHAPTER 


V 


Page 

128 


I 


CHAPTER  I. 


ENGLISH  HUMANITARIAN  TEMPER  3EE0RE  1726. 


1*  The  normal  English  attitude  toward  animal  li-i.e  in  oIb 
Middle  Ages  and  in  the  Renaissance.  2.  The  scientific  spirit  Oi 

the  seventeenth  century  the  Royal  Society  ailletanoism 

vivisection.  5.  Apologists  and  satirists  of  the  new  age. 

4.  Seventeenth  and  early  eighteenth  century  conceptions  of  man. 

5.  Transition  in  the  early  eighteenth  century. 


1. 

There  is  an  old  tale  of  Baldwin,  king  of  Jerusalem,  which 
tells  how,  when  he  lay  at  the  point  of  death  from  wounds,  his  leech 
asked  for  a captured  Saracen  to  experiment  upon,  in  that  way,  per- 
haps, to  find  a cure  for  the  king.  Put  Baldwin  refused  to  peimit 
even  an  infidel  to  he  sacrificed  that  he  might  live,  and  ohe  leech 
was  forced  to  satisfy  himself  with  the  vivisection  of  a oear  in- 
stead. ’’Then  said  the  king,  ’We  will  not  strain  at  the  oeast  if 
need  he;  do  therefore  as  thou  wilt.’  . . . Let  this  suffice  con- 
cerning the  king’s  pitifulness.”  (1) 

In  this  legend  from  Guihert  de  Logent,  written  in  biie 

twelfth  century,  we  find  an  interesting  example  of  respect  for 


(1)  Coulton,  Mediaeval  Garner,  no.  18 


» 


1 


-2- 


' 

human  life  in  a time  when  the  brotherhood  of  Christendom  was  none 
too  clearly  recognized  and  when  pagans"  lives  were  deemed  worthy 
of  no  consideration  whatever.  By  his  "pitifulness"  the  king  re- 
cognized the  sacredness  of  the  human  body.  Even  when  it  came  to 
the  animal  he  apparently  was  dubious,  but  he  was  willing  to  permit 

the  experiment  "if  need  be".  The  legend,  or  historical  fact  

the  authenticity  of  the  story  aside  from  point  of  time  does  not 

matter  shows  that  this  respect  for  life  is  not  characteristic 

of  these  last  two  centuries  only,  which  have  shown  increased  sen- 
sitiveness to  the  deliberate  infliction  of  pain  for  dubious  ends. 

Hartland  has  an  interesting  theory  that  the  savage  con- 
siders animal  motives  and  mental  reactions  to  be  exactly  like  our 
own.  (2)  In  the  stories  of  primitive  peoples  both  man  and  beast 
act  in  precisely  the  same  way  and  for  the  same  reasons.  This 
theory,  however,  applies  only  to  the  folk  literature  of  races; 
and  in  this  essay  I shall  concern  myself  only  vi  th  more  sophisti- 
cated writers  in  my  attempt  to  show  the  normal  attitude  of  man 
toward  other  species,  disregarding  those  earlier  times  in  which 
he  was  unconscious  of  any  gulf  between  them.  We  shall  meet  a 
conception  of  equality  Of  the  species  again  among  the  eighteenth 
century  sentimentalists.  In  that  highly  sophisticated  age,  we 
shall  find  a realization  of  the  gulf,  of  course,  and  man  acting  the 
role  of  benevolent  dictator. 

In  our  earliest  extant  literature,  particularly  in 

(1)  E.  S.  Hartland,  Popular  Studies  in  Mythology,  Romanc e and 
Folklore , no . 7 . 


' 


» 


-3— 


Beowulf  and  Cynewulf  (l),  mention  is  made  of  man*s  companionship 
with  animals,  but  this  friendliness  was  generally  confined  to  dogs 
and  the  hawk  on  his  perch  in  the  hall.  Horses  we re  highly  valued, 
principally  because  they  were  of  practical  importance.  Of  all 
those  animals  dwelling  in  the  mysterious  forests  near  the  sea- 
coasts  there  was  fear  born  of  the  unknown  fear  like  our  mod- 

ern attitude  toward  insects,  disgust  and  suspicion  intermingled. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  the  hawk  was  held  in  still  greater 
esteem  thai  in  Anglo-Saxon  days.  In  the  mediaeval  stronghold 
the  lap-dog  was  popular,  even  though  he  might  be  useless  for  the 
chase;  and  every  lady,  mewed  in  her  dingy  apartments,  had  her 
caged  magpie  to  amuse  her.  Women  were  clever  at  hunting  with 
birds,  John  of  Salisbury  tells  us,  (2)  and  adds  that  the  inferior 
sex  is  superior  at  the  sport  because  women  are  more  rapacious. 

We  are  left  in  doubt  as  to  what  his  motives  were  for  this  criti- 
cism, whether  he  was  indignant  about  idle  killing  or  whether  he 


(1)  In  the  Riddles  there  are  many  charming  pictures  to  illustrate 
the  friendship  between  the  species,  like  this  one  of  the  nightin- 
gale : 

Many  varied  voices  voice  I through  my  bill; 

Holding  to  my  tunes,  hiding  not  their  sweetness  

I,  the  ancient  evening- singer , bring  unto  the  Earls, 

Blithe  within  the  burgs,  when  I break  along 
With  a cadenced  song.  Silent  in  their  dwelling 
They  are  sitting,  leaning-  forwards. 

(2)  Quoted  by  Wright,  Womankind  in  Western  Europe , 230.  "Quod 
vel  ex  eo  mecum  conjicies  quod  deterior  sexus  in  avium  venatione 
potior  est.  In  quo  poteras  naturam  arguere , nisi  nosses  quia  de- 
teriora  semper  promiora  sunt  ad  rapinam." 


-4- 


wanted  to  rebuke  women  for  frivolity.  I’  he  latter  supposition  is 
the  more  plausible. 

In  the  thirteenth  century  we  are  given  a glimpse  of  the 
monastic  attitude  toward  animals  when  the  author  of  Ancren  Riv/le 
addresses  his  three  pious  ladies,  "Ye  shall  not  possess  any 
beast,  my  dear  sisters,  except  only  a cat."  (l)  Anchoresses 
were  to  emulate  Mary,  not  Martha,  who  busied  herself  about  many 
things.  That  nuns  in  general  were  fond  of  pets  is  obvious  from 
the  numerous  reports  of  episcopal  and  diaconal  visitations.  One 
rule  at  Chatteris,  Cambridgshire , is  quite  specific  on  this  point. 

"Runs  shall  not  keep  fowls,  dogs  or  small  birds  within 
the  convent  precincts,  nor  bring  them  into  church  during  divine 
service,  and  they  shall  not,  from  a wish  to  reform  them,  take  in- 
to their  employ  servants  who  are  known  for  their  bad  ways." (2) 

This  custom  of  taking  one's  pets  with  him  when  he  went  to  mass  was 

not  uncommon;  particularly  was  this  true  of  hawks,  which  required 

a good  deal  of  pampering. 

Another  example  of  mediaeval  fondness  for  animals  is  found 
in  Chaucer’s  description  of  the  prioress,  who  must  have  been  just 
such  another  amiable  lady  as  those  of  the  Ancren  Riwle . She  was 
so  "pitous”  that  she  would  weep  for  an  entrapped  mouse  "if  it  were 
deed  or  bledde" , and  her  "smale  houides"  dined  royally  on  roasted 
meat  and  fair  bread. 

"But  sore  weep  she  if  oon  of  hem  were  deed. 

Or  if  men  smote  it  with  a yerde  smerfce." 

(1)  Ancren  Riv/le.  p 417 

(2)  Eckenstein,  Women  tinder  Monasticsm.  p 401  (quoted).  See 
Dugdale’s  Monasticon.  Chatteris. 


* ' 


-5- 


In  telling  of  this  characteristic  of  the  lady  prioress,  Chaucer 
uses  the  word,  conscience . which  in  connotation  is  identical 
with  the  eighteenth  century  word,  sensibility*  In  this  respect, 
she  was  thoroughly  representative  of  her  class. 

In  the  fifteenth  century  there  is  evidence  of  this  kind- 
ly spirit  not  in  the  monastery  or  the  feudal  castle  but  at  the 
courts  of  kings.  Sir  Thomas  More’s  character,  Raphael  Hythlodaye, 
reports  the  views  of  the  Utopians  regarding  animals  and  their 
slaughter,  Shelley  might  not  have  been  perfectly  happy  among 
these  idealized  peoples,  for  certainly  they  v/ere  not  vegetarians; 
but  they  permitted  only  slaves  to  slaughter  animals,  ’’because 
they  think  it  blunts  the  tenderness  and  affections  of  human 
nature,  and  little  by  little  those  qualities  would  deteriorate 
in  the  nation  at  large.”  (1)  Then  Raphael  adds,  apropos  of 
hunting: 

’’But  if  the  hope  of  slaughter  and  tearing  the  animal 
in  pieces  is  the  object  (of  hunting),  should  you  not  rather  be 
moved  to  pity  to  see  a poor  innocent  hare  done  to  death  by  a 

dog  the  weaker  by  the  stronger,  the  timid  by  the  fierce,  the 

innocent  by  the  cruel  and  unmerciful?  All  such  hunting  is  un- 
worthy of  free  and  responsible  men,  and  the  Utopians  have  relegat- 
ed it  to  their  butchers,  to  which  trade  they  appoint  slaves  only." 
(2) 

The  Utopians  we re  unable  to  conceive  of  a merciful  dod  who  de- 
lighted in  animal  sacrifices,  for  surely  IP  could  not  be  pleased 

with  their  deaths  when  He  gave  these  animals  life.  (3) 

(1)  More 1 s Millenium,  p 127.  (2)  Ibid,  p 162.  (3)  Ibid,  p 245. 


, 


-6- 


Shakespeare,  too,  occasionally  puts  humanitarian  i’eas 

into  the  mouths  of  his  characters.  He  felt  particularly  compassion- 
ate for  the  hare  and  deer. 

Duke,  senior.  Come,  shall  we  go  and  kill  us  venison? 

And  yet  it  irks  me  the  poor  dappled* fools , 

Being  native  burghers  of  this  desert  city, 

Should  in  their  own  confines  with  forked  heads 
Have  their  round  haunches  gored,  (1) 

Here  is  an  idea  which  might  as  well  have  been  voiced  by  an 
eighteenth  century  poet  as  well  as  by  Shakespeare,  were  it  de- 
veloped more  fully  and  not  merely  a passing  fancy  of  the  duke. 

It  implies  quite  in  the  eighteenth  century  manner,  that  here  on 
earth  we  all  have  certain  rights  and  that  any  who  would  inter- 
fere with  us  are  tyrants.  Among  those  who  have  such  rights  are 
"the  poor  dappled  fools"  that  Shakespeare  loves  so  well.  "Poor 
Wat",  the  hare,  is  also  described  with  compassion  when  he  "stands 
on  his  hinder  legs  v/ith  listening  ear"  to  see  if  the  hunter  still 
pursues.  (2) 


The  foregoing  examples  are  given  to  show  that  the  humane 
spirit  has  been  present  throughout  the  centuries  of  mglish 
literature,  though  without  having  become  a creed  for  a school 
of  writers,  The  English  poet  has  normally  had  no  quarrel  with 
the  life  about  him,  nor  has  the  average  Englishman,  for  that 
matter,  though  hunting  has  ever  been  a favorite  sport  and  prob- 
ably always  will  be.  Generally  he  has  not  gome  out  of  his  way  to 


(1)  As  You  Like  It,  Act  II,  I,  1 21  ff 

(2)  Venus  andAcLonis , 1 697  ff 


. 


- 


-7- 

fight  with  animals.  This  spirit  of  mutual  toleration  is  a part 
of  human  nature  , present  not  only  among  the  Anglo-Saxons  but  in 
Greece,  Rome,  and  the  Orient.  At  times  in  English  literature  it 
has  been  absent  but  never  entirely  degenerate. 

The  purpose  of  this  essay,  having  determined  what  man* s 
general  attitude  has  been,  is  to  examine  the  literature  of  the 
periods  from  1660  to  1726,  the  Restoration  to  the  publication  of 
Thomson* s Winter , and  from  1726  to  the  Lyrical  Ballads . to  dis- 
cover in  both  periods  what  the  deviation  from  the  normal  has  been. 

From  1726  on,  the  sentimentalists  did  not  confine  them- 
selves to  pitying  the  tearful  and  faithful  spouses  of  Colley 
Cibber  and  Richard  Steele.  Their  compassion  became  more  catholic. 
It  is  within  the  scope  of  this  essay  to  trace  English  humanitar- 
ianism  both  as  it  was  concerned  with  lower  animals  and  with  the 
savages  of  Africa  and  America,  to  consider  the  causes  of  the  move- 
ment, to  examine  its  relationship  to  the  anti- slave  trade  ag- 
itation to  the  end  of  the  century.  The  publication  of  the  Lyrical 
Ballads  is  selected  as  a stopping  point,  because  at  that  time  the 
work  of  the  humanitarian  poets  and  novelists  was  at  its  height. 

In  the  nineteenth  century  many  of  their  dearest  wishes  were  real- 
ized and  the  reforms  they  sought  consummated.  The  slave  trade 
was  abolished;  then  slavery  was  stamped  out.  The  right  of 
democratic  self-expression  gradually  became  universal  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  countries,  and  new  problems  presented  themselves  for  sol- 
ution. 


. 

‘ 

' ' 


, 


■ 


, 


• I 


- 


-8- 


2. 

In  the  late  seventeenth  century  there  was  a deviation  from 

the  normal  attitude  just  described  a deviation  attributable 

to  the  peculiar  interests  of  that  age  which  valued  sanity  rather 
than  sentiment.  It  is  necessary  to  describe  this  period  in  order 
to  contrast  it  with  the  era  of  sensibility  which  came  in  the 
eighteenth  century. 

The  scientific  spirit  was  abroad  in  Europe  after  tin 
Renaissance,  and  men,  &s  if  awakening  from  a long  sleep,  were  more 
observant  than  ever  before  of  physical  and  biological  phenomena 
about  them.  Harvey  had  discovered  the  circulation  of  the  blood. 
Bacon  had  apotheosized  the  inductive  method  as  a means  for  the 
discovery  of  natural  truths.  As  the  explorations  of  the  previous 
hundred  years  had  stimulated  men*s  imaginations  in  regard  to  new 
worlds,  so  Harvey  and  Bacon  paved  the  way  for  discoveries  in  the 
natural  sciences.  Curiosity  was  more  lively  than  it  had  ever 
been  before.  Men  tried  many  things,  and  their  appetites  for 
marvels  knew  no  satiety.  When  the  Stuarts  returned  in  1660,  they 
encouraged  scientific  inquiry.  Their  courtiers  brought  with  them 
news  of  a similar  movement  in  France  to  urge  the  English  scient- 
ists to  still  greater  endeavor.  The  Royal  Society  flourished. 
Experimentation  became  fashionable. 

In  Erance  during  this  century  there  arose  the  famous  mech- 
anistic theory  of  Descartes,  who,  in  order  to  endow  man  with  a 
soul,  was  forced,  by  discretion,  to  declare  all  other  animals 


, 

- 

. 


' 


-9- 


automata,  like  clocks.  In  England  the  mechanistic  doctrine  gained 
some  adherents,  hut  there  is  scant  evidence  of  their  having  gone 
to  the  extremes  of  Malebranche,  Antoine  Arnauld,  and  the  other 
Port  Royalists,  Said  Malebranche,  "They  (animals)  eat  without 
pleasure;  they  cry  without  pain;  they  increase  without  con- 
sciousness of  it;  they  desire  nothing;  and  if  they  act  with 
dexterity  and  in  a manner  indicative  of  intelligence,  it  is 


God  who  motivates  them  to  preserve  them,  (l)  Sainte  Beuve 
illustrates  Malebranche 1 s practical  application  of  the  theory  by 
an  interesting  anecdote.  As  he  came  out  of  his  house  one  day, 
his  dog,  about  to  have  puppies,  fawned  upon  him  in  expectation  of 
a caress.  Malebranche  kicked  her.  As  she  went  yelping  away,  he 
said  tranquilly,  "Eh,  quoi I ne  savez-vous  pas  bi en  cue  cela  ne 
sent  pas?"  (2)  Her  cries  were  but  the  rumble  of  wheels,  like 
the  creak  of  the  spit. 

In  England  the  struggles  between  the  automatists  and  their 
opponents  were  never  very  exciting,  which  is  strange,  for  never 
before  had  the  cultivated  men  of  the  twro  ceuntries  been  in  closer 
cultural  accord.  But  after  1660  the  learned  societies  of  England 
and  France  were  absorbed  in  experiments  with  blood  transfusion. 
Vivisection  of  every  variety  became  a matter  of  common  occurrence, 
but  it  was  not  confined  to  the  surgical  laboratory.  The  dilettantdk 


(1)  Quoted  by  Huxley,  Methods  and  Results,  ch.  V from  Meditations 

Metaphysiques  et_  Correspondence  de  IT.  Malebranche.  I have 
been  unable  to  find  this  selection. 

(2)  Sainte  Beuve,  Port-Royal t v II  p 316-17 


-10- 


practically  without  scientific  knowledge,  carried  the  new  activ- 
ity into  the  drawing-rooms  and  enlivened  smart  functions  by  dis- 
embowelling living  dogs  for  the  ediiication  Oj.  ohe  cuali  0,7.  (l) 
They  were  magicians  conjuring  gold  fish  out  of  silk  hats. 

Said  a writer  in  Philosophical  Transactions , "We  have 
been  ready  for  this  Experiment  these  six  Months,  and  wait  for 
nothing  but  good  opportunities,  and  the  removal  of  some  consid- 
erations of  a Moral  nature.'1 2 3  (2)  (That  is,  ~or  the  experiment 
of  blood  transfusion  into  the  body  of  a man. ) In  the  dispute 
as  to  who  had  first  performed  the  operation,  the  English  were 
forced  to  concede  the  honor  to  the  French,  but  they  maintained 
that  a laudable  scrupulosity  and  a respect  for  the  "Penalties  of 
the  Law",  more  strict  in  England  than  in  Prance,  had  detained  them 
Within  six  months  after,  however.  Dr.  King  had  found  his  man,  a 
feeble-minded  cleric,  and  had  operated  successfully,  November, 
1667.  (3) 

It  would  be  grossly  unfair  to  the  scientific  pioneers  of 
England  to  deny  them  credit  for  brilliant  research  and  discovery. 
It  was  chiefly  among  the  dilettantes  that  the  custom  became  de- 
plorable. Animals  not  only  were  opened  without  purpose,  out 
they  were  given  no  care  after  the  experiments  were  per rormed. 

(1)  Philosophical  Transactions,  v I and  II.  Pepys  and  Boyle  tell 

similar  stories. 

(2)  Ibid,  v II.  p 522. 

(3)  Pepys,  v VII,  p 197;  Phil.  Trans . v II,  p 557 


-11- 


— I 


The  Hon*  Robert  Boyle,  in  spite  of  his  distinguished  services  to 
the  cause  of  learning,  habitually  seems  to  have  examined  the  in- 
terior workings  of  his  specimens,  sewed  them  up,  and  released 
them  with  no  apparent  attempt  to  see  that  the  incisions  were 
properly  healed*  Long  after  the  result  of  such  an  experiment 
was  well  known,  animals  were  stifled  in  air  pumps,  to  satisfy, 
one  suspects,  only  a fruitless  and  aimless  curiosity*  After  the 
spleen  of  an  animal  had  been  removed  or  after  his  blood  had  been 
let,  he  was  released  to  go  his  way,  no  effort  being  made  to  do 
more  than  to  sew  up  the  wound. ( #)But  to  Boyle  this  was  a man*s 
world,  so  created  by  Bod,  who  has  upon  occasion  made  the  sun  to 
stand  still  and  has  suspended  other  natural  laws  for  the  benefit 
of  the  human  race.  (1) 

Pepys  tells  how  Charles  II  obtained  the  body  of  a natural 
child,  apparently  the  offspring  of  some  court  lady,  which  was  dis- 
sected by  the  Merry  Monarch  with  many  a sprightly  jest.  (2)  John 
Evelyn  escorted  many  great  ladies  and  peers  to  the  disseccing 
rooms  at  Gresham  College , where  experiments  were  performed  es- 
pecially for  them,  among  his  guests  being  her  grace  of  Newcastle , 
"a  mighty  pretender  to  learning".  (3)  There  was  much  oi  tnis 
idle  drawing-room  dilettantism  among  the  noble  virtuosi,  for 
whom  Charles  Stuart  set  the  fashion. 

(#)  Phil . Trans . v I,  p 352, 

(1)  Boyle,  v II,  p 12,  Usefulness  of  Natural  Philosophy . 

(2)  Pepys,  v III,  p 41. 

(3)  Evelyn,  v I,  p 26. 


f 


c 


-12- 


There  were,  of  course,  many  who  attacked  the  legitimate 
activities  of  investigators,  but  without  much  distinction  between 
the  serious  and  the  frivolous.  Among  the  apologists  were  Thomas 
Sprat  and  John  Dryden,  both  of  whom  have  paid  high  tribute  to  the 
scientific  spirit. 

"Among  th1  assertions  of  free  reason1 s claim, 

Th1  English  are  not  the  least  in  worth  or  fame."  (1) 

Then  follows  high  praise  of  Harvey,  £>acon,  and  Dryden’s  colleagues 
in  the  Royal  Society.  Sprat  replies  to  those  who  cast  aspersions 
on  the  new  method.  The  scientists  are  not  godless  or  visionary 
or  ridiculous.  Hut  nothing  is  said  in  defense  of  useless  vivi- 
section or  of  disavowal  of  amateur  experimentation.  Since  there 
are  many  pages  devoted  to  the  Society’s  defense  without  any  such 
mention,  eertainly  there  could  have  been  few  attacks  on  those  two 
scores.  (2)  There  were,  indeed,  some  rumors  that  vivisection  of 
men  had  been  forbidden,  for  Jean  Penis  wrote  from  Paris  in  1667- 
68,  to  find  if  this  were  true  * but  the  rumor  was  emphatically 
denied  in  Philosophical  Transacti ons , which  declared  that  there 
was  no  protest  and  certainly  no  legal  attempt  to  forbid  it.  (#) 

Shadwell,  in  The  Virtuoso,  satirizes  this  whole  class  of 
energetic  seekers  after  seemingly  esoteric  information  in  the 
person  of  Sir  Nicholas  Grime  rack,  who  was  to  dissect,  after  the 
mode,  at  his  town  house.  The  evening  festivities  were  to  con- 
clude with  "a  dish  of  tea,  meat,  and  discourse  of  the  noble  Oper- 
ation, and  to  sport  an  author  over  a Glass  of  Wine."  (3)  Samuel 

(1)  Dryden,  To  My  Honor’d  Friend,  Dr.  Charleton.  (2)  Hist . of  R._S. 
(#)  Phil.  Trans.  V II,  p 710 
(3)  Virtuoso , Act  I,  p 7 


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V 


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3 


) 


i 


I 


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« 


f 


-13- 


Butler  attacks  the  virtuosi  in  The  Elephant  and  the  Moon  and  in 
A Satire  on  the  Royal  Society,  but  like  S hadwell  he  holds  no 
brief  for  those  who  went  beneath  the  knife,  either  rnan  or  beast. 

Now  membership  in  the  learned  associations  of  England  was 
not  confined  to  eager  scholars  and  bored  aristocrats.  There  was  a 
community  of  interests  among  scientists  and  literati  in  the  late 
seventeenth  century,  such  as  never  since  obtained,  at  lee.st  not 
to  the  same  extent.  In  the  list  of  fellows  of  the  Royal  Society 
before  1700  appear  the  names  of  John  Dryden,  Edmund  Waller, 

Thomas  Bp rat,  Edward  Stillingfleet , and  lord  Chesterfield,  all 
of  them  remembered  in  the  annals  of  literature  and  philosophy 
rather  than  in  experimental  science.  This  is  undoubtedly  one 
reason  for  the  absence  of  emotion  in  the  poetry  of  the  period, 
though  certainly  it  is  not  the  only  one.  The  writers  gained 
clarity  and  a wider  horizon  at  the  sacrifice  of  feeling.  An  exam- 
ination of  the  Philosophical  Transactions  after  1750  will  show  the 
scientific  interest  inclining  to  physical  investigation  rather 
than  biological.  Certainly  we  should  have  had  the  humanitarians 
"hymning  in  full  choir"  if  the  conditions  of  the  first  decade 
after  the  Restoration  still  obtained. 

It  is  Addison  who  first  among  the  di stinguished  literary 
men  of  the  early  eighteenth  century  stated  his  disapproval  of  tin 
careless  treatment  of  animal  life  by  the  pseudo-scientists. 

Addison  was  a believer  in  the  mechanistic  theory,  but  he  did  not 
follow  Descartes1  automatism  to  extremes.  Animals  are  governed 
by  instincts,  and  Deus  est  anirna  brutorum.  He  has  small  patience 


. 


, 


, 


. 

. 


- 


. 


- 


. 


-14- 


wit  h pretenders  to  scientific  erudition. 

"There  are,  besides  the  above-mentioned  innumerable  re- 
tainers to  physic,  who,  for  want  of  other  patients,  amuse  them- 
selves with  the  stifling  of  cats  in  an  air-pump,  cutting  up  dogs 
alive  or  impaling  insects  upon  the  point  of  a needle  for  micro- 
scopical observations;  besides  those  that  are  employed  in  the 
gathering  of  weeds,  and  the  chase  of  butterflies  . • . . (1) 

There  is  a report  in  the  Spectator  of  an  experiment  in  vhich  the 

investigators,  to  demonstrate  mother  love,  showed  her  puppies  to 

a dog  then  being  dissected  alive.  The  details  are  much  like  those 

mentioned  before;  but  Addison  begs  pardon  for  mentioning  this 

"very  barbarous  experiment"  and  this  "instance  of  cruelty."  (£) 

3. 

In  the  first  decades  of  the  eighteenth  century  we  find  the 
two  goddesses,  classicism  and  experimental  science,  still  enthron- 
ed; physicians  like  Garth  were  writing  poetry,  and  at  such  gath- 
erings as  Dr.  Arbuthnot  held  at  St.  James* s there  was  no  divorce 
between  letters  and  laboratory.  The  presence  of  the  research  mett 
od  in  literature  accounts  for  the  small  regard  paid  to  the  lower 
species  in  the  poetry  of  the  period,  but  the  time  had  come  for 
the  pendulum  to  swing  back  to  the  E nglish  norm  and  finally  to 
the  other  end  of  the  arc. 

Though  writers  of  the  period  may  have  countenanced  the 
lachrymose  fidelity  of  the  Colley  Cibber  heroine,  their  influence 
in  the  development  of  later  romantic  emotionalism  was  slight.  It 
is  necessary,  however,  to  examine  them  in  order  to  complete  the 


(1)  Spectator . no  21,  121 

(2)  Ibid,  no  120. 


-15- 


survey  of  tendencies  prior  to  the  humanitarian  movement,  to  rec- 
ognize more  clearly  the  signs  of  transition  from  an  age  of  head 
to  an  age  of  heart,  and  to  understand  completely  the  wide  gesture 
of  huinanitarianism  to  come. 

The  men  we  think  of  as  most  representative  of  the  spirit 

of  their  age  were  interested  primarily  in  man  man  in  society, 

man  and  his  mind,  man  and  his  relations  with  a rationalistic 

diety.  The  primary  concerns  of  Chesterfield,  Pope,  and  Swift  were 

critical,  like  those  of  their  predecessors;  they  had  inherited 

their  manner  and  method  from  the  previous  generation,  Man  is  a 

wonderful  machine,  even  as  Descartes  has  said,  oub  horn  to  err, 

and,  as  Pope  insists,  reason  must  restrain.  (1)  Chesterfield 

sometime  later,  in  advising  his  son,  instructs  him  to  study  man, 

(2) . The  genus  homo  whom  he  was  to  study  was  an  urbane  creature 

whose  interests  carried  him  no  farther  from  Charing  Cross  than 

the  rolled  lav/ns  of  Twickenham  or  Richmond,  This  is  a man's  world, 

and  the  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man. 

In  Windsor  Forest  Pope's  recognition  of  the  high  place 

occupied  by  the  human  species  and  the  negligible  position  of  the 

lower  is  obvious.  His  conception  is  typically  neo-classic. 

The  shady  empire  shall  retain  no  trace 
Of  war,  or  blood,  but  in  the  sylvan  chase; 

The  trumpet  sleep  while  cheerful  horns  are  olown, 
ffimd  arms  employed  on  bird,  and  beast  alone,  [& 


(1)  Essay  on  Man,  II  Is  1,2 

(2)  Chesterfield , Letter  CHXIV 

(3)  Windsor  Forest , 1 371  ff 


f 


-16- 


Such  is  Pope’s  conception  of  the  Golden  Age  to  come  beloved 

fancy  of  poets.  Certainly  in  this  delectable  time,  which  shall 
rival  the  prime  of  days  in  felicity,  animals  shall  have  no  share 
in  the  good  things  of  life;  . the  world  will  continue  to  be  the 
province  of  the  poet’s  own  hind.  In  the  Big say  on  Man , however , 
Pope  speaks  of  the  state  of  nature  as  having  been  the  time  when 
God  reigned  here  below,  when  man  was  neither  clothed  nor  red  by 
murder;  (1)  yet  later  he  insists  that  the  present  state  of  things 
is  best  and  that,  though  man  is  tyrant  of  the  whole,  he  is  help- 
ing nature  and  treats  animals  humanely  while  he  prepares  them  far 
his  feasts.  But  in  the  age  of  Dryden  the  position  of  the  lower 
species  had  interested  the  poets  not  at  all,  and  therefore,  this 
short  discussion  in  Pope  is  an  announcement  of  a new  poetical 
subject.  In  addition  to  their  having  aided  man  to  make  this  a 
better  world  to  live  in  beasts  have  been  his  teachers.  Prom  the 
bee  man  has  learned  the  art  of  building;  from  the  ant  the 
science  of  government. 

Like  Pope,  Gay  also  considers  this  a man’s  sphere.  Gentle 
and  kindly  as  he  generally  was,  he  describes  with  infinite  zest 
the  hunt  and  kill,  his  enthusiasm  mounting  as  the  dog  closes  in 
on  his  victim. 


(1)  Essay  on  Man.  Ill,  I 154 

(2)  Gay,  Rural  Sports,  canto  II 


' 


c 


, 


i 


' 


-17- 

Eager  he  presses  on.  but  overshoots  the  ground: 

She  turns  fthe  hare),  he  winds  and  soon  regains  the  way. 
Then  tears  with  gory  mouth  the  screaming  prey 
What  various  sports  does  rural  life  afford!  (1) 

When  he  writes  of  domestic  animals,  however,  his  tone  is  distinct- 
ly humane.  The  London  coachman  is  subject  for  a diatribe  in  Trivia 
because  he  beats  his  horse,  the  friend  of  man  which  labors  for  his 
comfort.  John  Gay  is  generally  recognized  to  have  been  an  early 
humanitarian;  but  certainly  he  was  only  a mild  one  who  was  never 
willing  to  sacrifice  his  own  comfort,  even  philosophically,:  for 
the  beasts  of  the  field  or  wood.  There  are  isolated  passages  like 
the  one  in  Trivia  when  he  appears  as  champion  for  beasts,  but 
there  is  a preponderance  of  evidence  on  the  other  side.  But  there 
is  evidence  in  his  poetry  of  the  transition. 

Another  reason  for  the  lukewarm  attitude  toward  animal 
life  in  early  eighteenth  century  literature  is  that  the  poets 
we re  not  familiar  with  any  except  the  most  common  domestic 
animals.  The  love  of  the  Augustans  for  the  Town  is  well  known, 
"the  dear,  damn'd,  distracting  town."  of  Pope's  Farewell  to  London  . 
When  he  describes  the  rural  scene,  even  such  a domesticated  land- 
scape as  that  of  Windsor  and  Eton  is  generalized,  and  the  animals 
of  the  river  and  forest  become  "the  wanton  fawn", "the  bounding 
steed",  "the  pamper'd  goose".  When  he  describes  a lark  or  thrush, 
there  is  an  obvious  lack  of  first-hand  observation. 

tl)  Gay,  Rural  Sports . canto  II 


. 


* 


' 


< 

< 

* 

. 

- 

, 

* 

. 

. 


-18- 


So  when  the  nightingale  to  rest  removes. 

The  thrush  may  chant  to  the  forsaken  groves. 

But,  charmed  to  silence,  listens  while  she  sings. 

And  all  the  aerial  audience  clap  their  wings,  (1) 

Surely  he  was  thinking  of  a West  End  assembly!  Again,  he  describe 
the  death  of  the  larks,  beautifully,  it  is  true,  but  as  if  he  had 
received  his  knowledge  vicariously  and  certainly  with  no  humane 
purpose • 

Oft  as  the  mounting  larks  their  notes  prepare. 

They  fall,  and  leave  their  little  notes  in  air.  (2) 

The  song  of  the  poets*  bird  certainly  made  little  impression  on 
the  Twickenham  bard.  It  polished  its  work  as  Mr.  Pope  did  his 
couplets • 

And  yet  there  are  lovely  pictures  in  his  ordered  land- 
scapes   pictures  of  animals  which  mark  him  as  a transition 

poet.  In  his  description  he  portrays  beautifully  and  faithfully 
the  death  of  the  purple-crested  pheasant  which  mounts  on 
"triumphant  wings"  only  to  fall  wounded  in  a crumpled  heap  when 
the  fowler  comes  by.  (3) 

A third  reason  for  the  poets*  indifference  to  animals  was 
that,  through  the  influence  of  Latin  models,  satiric  and  didactic 
poetry  was  immensely  popular  among  the  Augustans.  When  they 
used  the  lower  species  as  subjects,  it  was  generally  to  point  a 
moral  or  to  belittle  man.  Lean  Swift *s  Beasts*  Confession 


(1)  Spring,  1 13  ff  . (2)  Windsor  Forest  1 133 

(3)  Windsor  Forest .1  115  ff. 


f 


. 


-19- 

illustrates  well  the  tendency.  He  specified  four  aaimals,  he 

says  in  the  advertisement,  to  symbolize  the  evil  characteristics 

of  mankind,  the  ass,  the  wolf,  the  swine  and  the  ape,  "all  equally 

mischievous,  except  the  last,  who  outdoes  them  in  the  article  of 

cunning;  so  great  is  the  pride  of  man."  And  again, 

For  here  he  owns  that  now  and  then 
Beasts  may  degenerate  into  men* 

Gay  often  writes  in  much  the  same  vein.  In  his  vivid  praise 
of  rural  life  (l),  he  describes  the  custom  of  daring  larks  with 
mirrors,  a method  of  hunting  which  has  served  many  a poet  with 
similes.  It  is  pride  which  "lures  the  little  warbler  from  the 
skies,"  a conception  scarcely  to  be  comprehended  in  any  other 
period  except  that  of  the  late  seventeenth  or  early  eighteenth 
centuries.  In  the  midst  of  rhymed  epistles  on  every  kind  of 
subject  is  Bounce  to  Fop , from  a dog  at  Twickenham  to  a dog  at 
court.  Bounce  is  a spaniel  with  a "manfer  roar".  He  loathes  the 
anemic  and  ill-tempered  city  dog  and  scorns  his  tricks  of  fetch- 
ing and  carrying  at  the  hest  of  a capricious  mistress.  The  poem 
has  a double  meaning,  and  underneath  there  is  the  inevitable 
satire  on  the  human  race;  for  to  Gay  the  two  dogs  represent  the 
town-bred  man  and  the  honest  country  gentleman  so  often  satirized 
in  the  comedy  of  manners.  (2) 

(1) 

(2)  In  Elegy  on  a Lap-Dog.  Gay  concludes  with  the  customary  thrust 
at  man. 

Here  Shock,  the  pride  of  all  his  kind,  is  laid; 

Who  fawnTd  like  man,  but  ne'er  like  man  betraydd 
See  also  Fable  no.  9,  in  which  the  bull  remarks  that  the 
dog  has  learned  evil,  because  he  has  been  trained  beneath  the 
butcher,  man. 


, 


. 


. 


-20- 


Pope,  too,  adopts  the  same  method  of  bitter  moralizing  in 
Windsor  Forest  and  delivers  with  his  humanity  a sound  lecture 
to  predatory  man. 

(Beasts,  urg*d  by  us,  their  fellow  beasts  pursue. 

And  learn  of  man  each  other  to  undo).  (1) 

The  conspicuous  exception  to  the  prevailing  literary  fashion 
just  described  appears  in  the  verse  of  Anne,  Countess  of  Winchil- 
sea,  lady  in  waitin g to  Mary  of  Modena  before  the  revolution  of 
1688,  who  after  the  Etuart  debacle  retired  to  her  country  seat 
in  Kent  and  devoted  herself  to  writing.  She  was,  in  marked  con- 
trast to  Prior,  Pope,  and  Swift,  a close  observer  of  the  rural 
scene.  She  was  not  interested  in  "wild"  nature,  though  she  was 
a sympathetic  friend  to  the  animals  of  her  manor  park.  Occasion- 
ally she  suggests  as  none  of  the  classicists  does  a genuine  love 
of  the  quiet  and  orderly  beauty  of  rural  England.  The  Bird  in 
the  Arras  contains  a note  well  worth  contrasting  with  those  of 
her  contemporaries.  The  bird  flies  into  a room,  tries  to  light 
on  the  tapestried  foliage,  beats  in  desperation  against  wall 
and  ceiling,  "till  some  kind  hand  directs  the  way"  for  his  es- 
cape. In  her  fables  she  also  shows  how  thoroughly  out  of  sympathy 
she  is  with  her  age.  Even  though  she  uses  the  form  as  often  as 
the  rest  of  the  Augustans  and  moralizes  energetical  ly , there  is 
a gentleness  and  a touch  of  quiet  humor  like  Cowper’s.  And  this 

quite  humor  is  the  only  quality  v/hich  can  save  a poet  of  humanity 
from  descending  to  inanity  and  bathos. 


£l)  Windsor  Forest,  1 125 


, 


* 

: 


. 

*x  • 

. - \ 


-21- 


4. 

In  this  discussion  of  various  centuries  which  preceded  the 
era  of  humanitarianisra,  I have  tried  to  shov;  that  the  English 
have  normally  loved  external  nature  and  have  recognized  that  a 
bond  exists  between  man  and  the  other  creatures  which  share  the 
world  with  him.  Sensibly  enough,  the  love  of  one*s  own  always 

comes  first  consciousness  of  kind,  the  sociologists  call 

it,  as,  for  example,  in  Utopia . where  MoreTs  ideal  citizens 
object  to  slaughter  because  it  tends  to  react  unfavorably  on  the 
human  race  by  making  it  callous.  There  are  many  examples,  too, 
not  only  from  England  but  from  the  continent  which  show  that  in 
monastic  ism  there  is  a humanitarian  tendency. 

In  the  seventeenth , century  there  was  a deviation  from  the 
norm,  because  man*s  curiosity  was  stimulated  by  exploration  and 
the  greater  value  placed  on  material  comfort  and  aspirations. 
Mysticism  had  vanished.  Man  consulted  the  book  of  nature  and  in- 
exorably sought  to  dispel  the  universal  gloom  of  ignorance  with 
the  white  light  of  reason.  He  hated  mystery,  preferring  sanity 
to  ecstasy  and  microscopes  to  stained  glass  windows.  As  he  in- 
dulged his  curiosity,  he  rejected  emotional  experience  because 
it  hampered  him  in  his  search  for  truth.  Consequently,  he  view- 
ed the  living  things  about  him  not  as  creatures  of  feeling  but 
as  so  many  fascinating  problems  on  which  he  might  exercise  his 
intellectual  ingenuity  and  which  have  been  placed  here  by  Cod 
for  the  well-being  of  the  human  race.  Poets  and  scientists  as- 
_£um£4...  thatthe  ir  field  of  endeavor  was  the  same,  and  they  com- 


-22- 


bined  forces  in  their  desire  to  extend  the  frontiers  of  knowledge. 
Such  a social  temper  is  not  conducive  to  humanitarianism,  which, 
to  flourish,  needs  responding  emotions.  What  sympathy  there  was 
was  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  man. 

But  in  the  first  two  decades  of  the  eighteenth  ceitury, 
though  science  and  rationalism  we re  still  supreme,  there  are  signs 
of  change.  True,  from  the  previous  generation,  the  cultivated  had 
inherited  an  absorbing  interest  in  the  affairs  of  mankind.  But 
since  society  was  urban,  its  members  had  little  opportunity  to  ob- 
serve any  except  the  most  common  domestic  animals.  Satire  and 
didacticism  were  the  correctives  for  human  frailties,  and  the  low- 
er animals  were  used  in  fables  merely  for  disciplining  the  human 
rac  e . 

And  yet  there  are  signs  of  a transition.  Pope  occasionally 
shows  sympathy  for  the  creatures  about  him,  though  it  is  well-con- 
trolled  compassion.  In  Say  the  tendency  is  more  apparent.  Pro- 
tect the  streams  from  otters,  he  says,  because  they  kill  the  fish, 
and  also  spoil  the  fishing.  Do  not  torture  a worm  by  putting  him 
on  a hook;  besides,  a fly  makes  better  bait.  (1)  Thus  speaks  the 
seventeenth  century  voice.  But  the  coachman  has  no  right  to  abuse 
his  horse,  (2)  and  man* s method  of  teaching  his  dog  to  murder  is 
reprehensible.  (5)  Though  the  signs  are  faint  ones  in  Pope,  Gay 
and  Swift,  they  are  unequivocal  in  Lady  Winchilsea;  and  in  Thomson 
we  shall  find  without  mistake  that  the  pendulum  lias  begun  to  swing 

(U  Rural  Sports,  I 1 253.  (2)  Trivia,  II  1 227  ff 

(3)  Fable  no.  9 


-25- 


away  from  neo-classic  frigidity. 


CHAPTER  II. 


HUMANITARIANISM  AND  THE  SLAVE  TRADE . 

1.  The  Christian  campaign  for  converts  in  the  Hew  World. 
2.  The  Restoration  conception  of  the  noble  savage.  3.  Eighteenth 
century  sentimentalists  and  their  belief  in  the  slave1 s inherent 
nobility.  4.  The  brotherhood  of  man  and  natural  rights. 

In  tracing  the  development  of  humanitarian  tendencies  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  we  should  naturally  expect  to  find  that 
the  greater  emphasis  of  writers  should  be  placed  upon  the  ne  cessity 
of  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  that  before  the  champions  of  univer- 
sal benevolence  opened  wide  their  arms  to  include  in  their  earthly 
society  everything  that  feels,  they  should  have  first  devoted 
their  attention  to  those  rights  which  belong  to  the  human  species, 
including  the  negroes  and  Indians  of  America  and  Africa.  I shall 
try  to  show  that  the  first  right  recognized  as  common  to  all  men 
was  that  of  salvation,  to  which  is  added,  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  more  wordly  right  of  life,  liberty,  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness. 

Among  the  champions  of  manTs  claims  to  salvation,  both 
Protestant  and  Catholic  organisations  would  take  the  initiative,  but 
there  was  another  group  showing  faint  stirrings  of  the  fraternal 
spirit  in  the  early  eighteenth  century  which  had  no  concern  at  first 
with  the  Christian  movement  for  the  democracy  of  the  hereafter. 


r 


« 


- 


, 


-'25- 


Just  as  the  clergy  supported  their  cause  by  quoting  the  law  of 
God,  this  second  group  quoted  the  law  of  nature*  The  one  was 
interested  in  man’s  equality  in  heaven;  the  other  was  interested 
in  man’s  equality  on  earth.  It  was  through  the  contributions  of 
both  these  groups,  who  championed  man's  spiritual  and  natural 
rights,  that  the  later  humanitarians  were  able  to  make  some 
practical  gesture  towards  the  realisation  of  their  ideals*  To 
prove  this  contention  is  the  purpose  of  this  section  of  my  dis- 
cussion. 

By  1557  the  zeal  of  various  religious  orders  in  &pain  had 
brought  pressure  to  bear  on  Paul  III,  who  aided  them  in  their  work 
among  the  American  Indians  with  a papal  bull;  and  first  of  all, 
for  the  more  efficient  missionary  activity  of  the  Roman  church, 
it  was  necessary  for  the  Holy  father  to  decree  that  the  Indians 
of  the  New  World  were  "truly  men  and  that  they  are  capable  not 
only  of  understanding  but,  according  to  our  information,  they  ex- 
ceedingly desire  to  receive  it.  (Christianity)  ....  the  said 
Indian  and  all  other  people  who  may  later  be  discovered  by 
Christians,  are  by  no  means  to  be  deprived  of  their  liberty,  or 
the  possession  of  their  property,  even  if  they  be  outside  the 
faith  of  Jesus  Christ."  (1)  furthermore,  the  bull  rejects  the 
argument  of  Spanish  colonists  that  Indians  were  brutes  and  states 

(1)  Sublimi s Deus  Pauli  III,  MacNutt,  Bartholomew  de  las  ^asas. 

appendix. 


’ 


f 

, 

<i 

■ 

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r 

-26- 


that  such  a contention  arose  from  the  avarice  of  those  who  would 
enslave  them.  These  early  profiteers  were  "enemies  of  the  human 
race",  the  pope  continues,  because  they  tried  to  exclude  fellow 
men  from  eternal  bliss. 

Within  forty- five  years  after  the  discovery  of  America, 
then,  the  Church  had  recognized  its  problem,  thanks  to  Las  Casas, 
himself  a Spanish  colonist  in  the  hew  World,  who  took  holy  orders, 
freed  his  bondmen,  and  devoted  his  life  to  engaging  the  aid  of 
king  Ferdinand  and  the  mighty  prelates  of  Spain  in  the  cause  of 
Indian  betterment,  for  such  early  friars  as  he,  seeing  in  America 
a vast  field  for  missionary  zeal,  devoted  themselves  indefatigably 
to  lightening  the  natives’  lot.  Seeing  that  the  cruelty  of  the 
settlers  was  playing  havoc  with  these  pro specti-^ Christians , 

Las  Casas  wrote  to  the  king  in  1510,  recommending  that  Indian 
slaves  be  replaced  by  African  negroes.  His  motives  were  essential- 
ly religious.  First,  it  v/as  necessary  to  recognize  the  Indians 
as  men,  not  as  mere  brutes,  so  that  they  might  be  baptized; 
secondly,  since  they  were  of  a higher  order  of  intelligence  than 
the  negroes,  the  missionaries  could  accomplish  two  laudable  acts 
at  one  stroke.  They  could  convert  the  Indians  at  once  and  import 
negroes  to  occupy  the  position  of  bondmen  until  such  time  as  they, 
too,  might  progress  to  the  peerless  blessings  of  Christianity. 

For  two  centuries  f olio  wing, both  Catholics  and  Protestants  were 
denying  the  brutality  of  the  inferior  races,  though  their  prin- 
cipal concern  was  not  with  terrestrial  fetters  but  with  celestial 


-27- 


felicity.  And  certainly  we  find  Las  Casas,  like  many  a later  cham- 
pion of  spiritual  equality,  actong  on  the  Jesuitical  assumption  that 
all  means  are  justifiable  if  only  the  end  be  laudable.  His  whole 
purpose,  like  that  of  the  Protestant  coadjutors  I shall  name,  was  to 
save  man’s  soul.  The  body  was  almost,  though  certainly  not  quite, 
absolutely  negligible. 

In  England  the  first  sentiment  against  the  slave  trade 
sprang  from  the  same  religious  sources.  "The  True  and  Sincere 
Declaration"  of  the  Virginians  in  1609  cleverly  anticipated  ob- 
jections by  stating  that  the  true  purpose  of  slavery  in  the  colonies 
was  to  convert  the  African.  (1)  The  other  method  of  meeting  op- 
posin  public  opinion  was  the  same  that  Las  Casas  and  his  brethren 

had  used  in  the  bull  of  Paul  III  negroes  and  Indians  were 

brutes  created  like  the  ox  to  toil  for  man. 

But  it  was  really  nearly  a century  after  John  Havfcins 
first  carried  negroes  in  an  English  bottom  to  a Spanish  colony 
before  any  agitation  against  the  trade  on  the  practice  of  holding 
slaves  was  strongly  voiced  by  an  Englishman.  The  majority,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  looked  on  the  growing  traffic  indifferently 
and  without  abhorrence.  Queen  Eli-abeth  had  said,  when  the  news 
of  Hawkins’s  first  venture  was  brought  to  her,  that  if  the  trade 

(1)  Spear,  The  American  Slave  Trade , p 10. 


-28- 


continued,  ,Tit  would  be  detestable  and  -would  call  down  the  ven- 
geance of  heaven  upon  the  undertakers. n (1)  But  later  Hawkins 
was  granted  permission  to  add  to  his  arms  n a demi-Moor  proper 
bound  with  a cord",  (2)  and  Elizabeth  was  the  first  English  sov- 
erreign  to  share  in  the  profits  of  the  trade,  a custom  which  did 
not  succumb  to  adverse  public  opinion  till  the  days  of  Anne. 

Not  until  George  Pox  went  out  to  Barbadoes  to  hold  meet- 
ings there  emong  the  Quakers  did  the  horror  of  the  situation,  come 
home  to  a few  Englishmen  through  the  agitation  of  Pox  himself  and  of 
his  friend,  William  Edmondson.  Here  were  men  like  the  English,  but 
for  the  color  of  their  skins,  growing  up  in  ignorance  of  Christian- 
ity, and  he  urged  their  masters  in  1671  "to  train  them  up  in  the 
fear  of  God".  After  he  had  thus  admonished  the  owners,  he  urged 
them  to  deal  humanely  with  their  slaves  and  eventually  to  free  them. 
Nothing  at  all  is  said  of  the  trade.  Above  all,  the  relationship 
of  master  and  man  is  like  that  of  Joshua  and  his  household,  an 
excellent  opportunity  for  the  patron  to  enforce  service  to  the 
Eord.  Here  indeed  were  virgin  fields  for  the  missionary.  (5). 

This  seirnon  created  a tremendous  furore  against  the 
Quakers  among  the  planters  of  Barbadoes.  Their  meetings  were  brok- 
en up,  and  members  of  the  society  were  assaulted  until  Pox , in 
behalf  of  his  brethren,  restated  his  position  and  denied  that  he 

(1)  Ibid,  p 15  (2)  Traill,  Social  England,  v III,  Sec.  Ill  P 740-1 

(3)  Jo urn,  of  George  Pox,  v II,  P 502. 


, 


, 


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f 

I 


p 


. 

. 


-29- 


was  stirring  up  discontent  and  insurrection  among  the  slaves.  The 
Quakers,  he  said,  merely  held  meetings  with  the  Blacks,  urging  them 
to  he  righteous  before  God  and  faithful  to  their  masters.  Fox 
was  willing  to  compromise,  if  need  be,  so  far  as  the  slaves* 
earthly  existence  was  concerned,  if  the  soul  might  be  saved; 
yet,  after  he  went  back  to  England,  he  continued  the  fight.  He 
wrote  in  1690  to  the  "Friends  and  brethren,  ministers,  exhorters, 
aid  admonishers"  to  keep  up  their  work  among  the  Whites,  Blacks, 
and  Indian  kings.  (1). 

Since  the  Quakers  were  a gentle  and  tolerant  people, 
they  did  not  urge  their  views  vigorously  against  those  outside 
their  society,  particularly  after  the  mobs  of  1671  in  Barbadoes 
had  made  it  necessary  for  Fox  and  Edmonson  to  state  their  position 
unequivocally;  but  the  work  inaugurated  by  these  two  was  carried 
on,  and  in  1758  at  the  yearly  meeting  in  England  members  were  for- 
bidden to  concern  themselves  "in  reaping  the  unrighteous  profits 
arising  from  that  iniquitous  practice  of  dealing  in  negroes  and 
other  slaves."  Eegroes  are  men;  they  should  be  treated  as  men. 

The  law  of  God  is  invoked  in  their  behalf.  And  the  body  becomes 
of  importance  as  well  as  the  soul.  (2) 

The  Puritans,  too,  were  rallying  to  the  cause,  basing 
their  attitude  toward  the  traffic  on  divine  law.  Men  are  brothers 

(l)  Ibid.  (2)  Epistles  of  the  Yearly  Meetings,  v 1 p 507 


r - 


< 


* 


f 


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-30- 


iii  God.  This  is  the  constant  argument,  just  as  a century  later  was 
to  come  in  the  same  cause  the  contention  that  they  are  brothers  in 
nature.  Two  years  after  Fox’s  attack  on  slave  owners  in  Barbadoes, 
Richard  Baxter  stated  the  Puritan  position,  going  further  than 
Pox,  hew  ever,  since  he  was  speaking  from  the  security  of  England, 
in  voicing  humane  sentiments.  Slavery  is  undoubtedly  wrong,  and 
the  trade  is  wrong.  Man  has  no  right,  said  Baxter,  to  treat  his 
fellow  man  as  a beast.  He  has  no  right  to  treat  him  unkindly, 
for  we  are  all  equal  in  Ohrist.  ..'.ven  assuming  that  slavery  is 
justifiable,  there  is  this  Christian  brotherhood  in  which  the 
master  is  the  trustee  of  God,  the  guardian.  of  the  slave1 s soul.(l) 

A planter’s  chief  duty  is  to  care  for  the  salvation  of  those  who 
serve  him;  he  should  think  of  their  spiritual  welfare  rather 
than  of  accruing  profits.  To  keep  them  fron  the  Word  is  to  en- 
danger their  existence  in  the  next  world  and  is  "rebellion  against 
God".  Thus  far,  the  Puritan  point  of  view  is  similar  to  that 
of  Catholic  and  Quaker. 

There  are  times,  however,  when  slavery  is  permissible, 
he  thinks,  for  a man  may  be  enslaved  for  crime;  and  even  a 
Christian  may  sell  himself  or  forfeit  his  liberty.  "But  on  no  con- 
dition shall  the  owner  do  anything  to  prevent  the  salvation  of  his 
soul  or  require  him  to  sin",  and  those  who  neglect  the  bondmenTs 
souls  are" fitter  to  be  called  incarnate  devils  than  Christians, 
though  they  may  be  no  Christians  whom  they  so  abuse."  (2) 

(1)  Baxter,  Christian  Pi  rectory,  V/orks , v I,  461  ff 
(£)  Baxter,  v 1.  p 462. 


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-31- 


j Little  comment  seems  necessary  on  this  Puritan  point  of 

view.  All  men  are  part  of  the  Christian  community,  thinks  Baxter, 
but  there  is  an  undercurrent  in  the  Christian  Directory,  strongly 
reminiscent  of  Las  Casas.  Since  we  have  the  institution  of  slavery, 
here  is  an  excellent  opportunity  to  do  missionary  work.  He  re- 
cognizes a right  to  spiritual  freedom,  but  a man  may  forfeit  his 
earthly  liberty.  His  position  is  precisely  this:  first,  care  for 

the  soul.  Then  the  question  of  e art  lily  bondage  may  be  taken  up. 

After  1 he  Christian  Directory,  the  Church  of  England 
also  advanced  to  champion  the  oppressed  when  Morgan  Godwyn,  w ho 
had  spent  some  years  in  the  West  Indian  colonies,  returned,  fired 
with  indignation  at  the  treatment  accorded  slaves  and  the  care- 
lessness shorn  by  their  masters  in  preparing  them  for  the  life  to 
come.  Hot  the  least  of  GodwynTs  concerns  was  the  fact  that  his; 
church  had  so  long  remained  silent  on  this  questi  on,  particularly 
since  the  Hew  Englanders  and  the  Quakers  were  working  the  mission- 
ary field  while  the  Anglicans  remained  tranquilly  aloof.  He  had 
waited,  he  said,  for  someone  to  speak,  but  the  clergy  had  remained 
silent.  In  1680,  The  negroes1  and  Indians 1 Advocate  appeared,  and 
in  1685  he  denounced  the  institution  of  slavery  in  Westminster 
abbey,  the  very  heart  of  the  nation;  but,  irony  of  ironies,  he 
dedicated  his  published  sermon  to  James  II,  himself  a large  stock- 
holder in  the  Royal  Adventurers  Trading  company l 

Like  the  other  clergymen,  Godwyn  was  primarily  interested 



* I 


t 


^ . 

- 


' 


- 52- 


in  the  souls  of  inferior  races.  He  had  been  stirred  to  activity 
by  Fox's  address  to  the  ministers  of  Barbadoes  which  had  been  put 
into  his  hands,  "a  malitious  end  crafty  invective",  in  which  the 
Quaker  had  asked  "Who  made  you  Ministers  o f the  Gospel  to  the  'white 
People  only . and  not  to  the  Tawneys  and  Blacks  also?  (with  many  the 
like  inso lent Queries , following  in  a tedious  Harangue . " (l)  How 

this,  he  declared  in  virtuous  wrath,  is  manifestly  untrue,  for  does 
not  the  Anglican  liturgy  contain  a prayer  for  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  men?  It  was,  nevertheless,  the  scorn  of  Fox  which 
caused  Godwyn  to  act. 

His  problem  was  a little  more  difficult  than  the  ones 
faced  by  the  Puritans  and  Quakers.  He  had  to  see  that  the  negroes 
were  insured  of  eternal  bliss  without  disturbing  the  earthly  status 
quo . He  hated  slavery  as  much  as  did  the  dissenters,  but  he  had 
to  go  slowly.  First,  then,  he  had  to  answer  the  ivy- grown  argument 
that  slaves  are  brutes.  Then  he  quotes  Virginia  lav/  and  Lord  Chan- 
cellor Finch  (2)  to  prove  that  baptism  does  not  free  a negro;  but 
in  spite  of  this  appeal  to  man-made  law,  he  declares  again  and  again 
the  equality  of  all  men  before  God  and  their  rights  to  the  exercise 
and  privilege  of  Christianity,  and  no  difficulties  or  inconveniences 
whatever  can  justify  the  English  in  denying  them  salvation.  The 
negroes  are  human.  They  laugh  and  talk.  They  are  entrusted  with 

(1)  Hegroes 1 2 and  Indians  Advocate . p 4 ff 

( 2 ) Trade  Preferr Td  before  Religion. 


• f 

. 


. 


r 


the  positions  of  overseers,  an  anomalous  situation  if  they  are 
brutes.  They  reason  like  men,  and  their  servitude  does  not  imply 
a loss  of  humanity. 

" Another  time  it  was  told  me,"  he  writes,  speaking  of 
his  colonial  experiences,  "with  no  small  Passion  and  v'ehemency, 
and  that  by  a Religious  Person  (for  so  in  all  things  else  she  ap- 
peared), that  T might  as  well  baptise  a Puppy,  as  a certain  young 
Negro , the  Mother  whereof  was  a Christian  , and  for  ought  I know 
{ no  twit  list  and  i ng  her  Complexion)  as  dear  to  God  as  her  self."  ( 1 j 

But  Godwyn  believes  in  humane  treatment,  though  he  holds  no  brief 

for  emancipation  of  the  slave Ts  body.  The  system  is  indeed  wrong, 

and  with  fine  scorn  he  pictures  the  good  Christian  at  his  work  of 

oppression.  The  part  of  the  problem,  however,  he  is  forced  to 

treat  lightly,  because  too  many  influential  people  were  financially 

involved  by  the  system. 

There  never  was  a more  vigorous  seventeenth  century 
crusader  against  an  evil  than  Godwyn,  even  if  his  activity  was 
prompted  not  by  pity  but  by  a desire  to  see  his  own  church  get 
its  share  of  heathen  instead  of  continuing  to  pray  in  its  in- 
imitably complacent  manner  for  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men. 

2. 

To  examine  the  other  tributary  to  the  main  stream  of 
humanitarianism  in  its  relation  to  slavery,  it  is  necessary  to 
pay  some  attention  to  early  conceptions  of  the  Noble  Savage , vhom 

(1) 


Negroes 1 and  Indians1  Advocate,  p 58 


-34' 


we  first  encounter  in  the  heroic  tragedies  of  Dryden!s  time  and 
who  continues  as  fictional  stock  in  trade  well  into  the  third  de- 
cade of  the  eighteenth  century.  There  was  naturally  much  interest 
in  the  new  lands  of  Orient  and  Occident  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  London  shops  were  constantly  stimulating  the  imagination  hy 
displaying  as  they  never  had  before  wares  from  far  off  countries. 
The  Noble  Savage  was  the  creation  of  the  heroic  tragedians  and 
the  travel  stories  of  explorers  and  visiting  colonists.  He  is  a 
child  of  the  imagination.  The  princes  of  the  new  continents  were 
noble  chiefly  because  they  were  princes,  since  it  was  a fundamental 
precept  of  these  writers  that  royalty  is  noble,  whether  it  be  the 
ruling  house  of  Ilium  or  Timbuctoo.  Consequently,  we  have  bronze 
heroes,  ebony  kings,  and  cinnamon- colored  potentates  roaring  out 
heroic  couplets  as  they  lie  on  the  rack  or  confounding  their  en- 
emies in  critical  moments  by  hurling  their  vital  organs  at  them. 

Dryden’s  noble  savages  are  typical.  In  The  Indian 
Emperor  ( 1665 ) Hontezuma  is  about  to  suffer  death  at  Spanish  hands, 
but  Cortez  is  willing  to  show  clemency  to  his  victim,  because  he  is 
a noble  prince  and  because,  like  the  rival  lovers  in  Polyeucte . 
he  would  compete  with  this  noble  savage  only  in  civilite  . Like  a 
true  neo-classic  chieftain,  the  Aztec  speaks: 

Name  life  no  more; 

*Tis  n ow  a torture  worse  than  all  I bore: 

Ifll  not  be  bribed  to  suffer  life,  but  die. 

In  spite  of  your  mistaken  clemency. 

I was  your  slave,  and  I was  used  like  one; 

The  shame  continues  when  the  pain  is  gone: 

But  I1!?!  a king  while  this  (his  sword)  is  in  my  hand. 


• ’ 


. 

, 


' 


. 

: 


, 

- 

, 

: 

. 1 


-55- 


__A 


(1)  Again,  when  Cortez,  after  having  employed  an  Indian  as  spy  dur- 
ing his  Mexican  campaign,  finds  that  his  creature  has  betrayed 
Montezuma,  he  bursts  into  disillusioned  soliloquy. 

Where,  banish1!  virtue,  wilt  thou  show  they  face. 

If  treachery  infects  they  Indian  race?  (2) 

This  is  the  histrionic  Cortez  speaking,  we  must  remember,  and  not 
the  sprightly  gentleman  of  history. 

Dryden*s  ideas  of  a state  of  nature,  were  they  not  in- 
troduced so  casually,  would  make  us  think  pretty  seriously  of 
Jean- Jacques  and  his  pictures  of  the  past  in  The  Discourse  on  Arts 
and  Science . In  the  lands  beyond  the  western  sea,  there  are  fruit- 
ful vales  of  supernal  beauty  where  guiltless  men  while  away  their 
lives  in  primitive  felicity.  (5)  And  Almanzor,  in  The  Conquest  oi_ 
Granada,  cries: 

I am  as  free  as  nature  first  made  man, 

Ere  the  base  laws  of  servitude  began, 

When  wild  in  woods  the  noble  savage  ran.  (4) 

The  Dr;. den  conception  of  man  as  a noble  savage,  wandering  happily 

about  in  a world,  unharassed  by  care  or  oppression,  is  beautiful 

tl)  Indian  Emperor,  V 2 (2)  Ibid,  I 2 

(3)  To  Dr.  Char le ton:  The  fruitful  vales  set  round  with  shady  trees, 

And  guiltless  men  who  danc’d  away  their  time, 
Eresh  as  their  groves,  and  happy  as  their  clim< 

(4)  Conquest  of  Granada , pt  I,  Act  I.  3c.  1 


! 


-56- 


while  it  lasts,  but  it  is  only  a poetic  convention  after  all.  The 
poet  was  too  much  of  a Tory  at  heart.  Though  savages  may  he  free, 
he  would  not  have  traded  his  lot  for  a less  sophisticated  one.  He 
was  opposed  to  change  of  all  hinds,  as  Ah s ol om  and  Achitophel 
indubitably  shows.  (l)  It  is  a beautiful  idea  for  the  fancy 
to  play  with,  and  is  not  to  be  taken  seriously. 

In  fiction,  the  Noble  Savage  was  as  fanciful  a creature 
as  his  kindred  in  heroic  tragedy.  T he  classic  example  is  Mrs. 
Behn*s  Orinooko  (1668),  said  by  some  critics  to  be  the  first 
humanitarian  novel.  But  this  seems  to  me  an  erroneous  classifica- 
tion. Mrs.  Behn  knew  nothing  of  Surinam,  the  locale  of  her  tale, 
(2)  and  a brief  outline  of  Orinooko  will  be  sufficient  to  show  that 
Mrs  3ehn*s  noble  savage  is  but  a novelist* s conception  of  prince- 
ly perfection.  Her  novel  presents  the  conventional  problem 
of  heroic  tragedy,  the  dilemma  of  love  and  honor. 

Orinooko,  an  African  chieftain  of  peerless  masculine 
beauty,  is  in  love  with  Imoinda,  an  African  princess  of  peerless 
feminine  beauty.  He  is  lured  aboard  a slaver  and  taken  to  America 
to  become  a slave.  In  the  meantime,  Imoinda,  too,  because  of  the 
jealousy  of  her  lover* s grandfather,  has  been  sold  and  sent  to 
Surinam,  where  "the  noble  slave",  this  "large  soul",  this  "great 
man",  "our  black  hero"  meets  her  and  is  permitted  to  marry  her. 

(1)  We  inherit  our  positions  as  subjects  through  the  forfeiture 
of  Adam.  There  is  no  doubt  which  idea  is  a part  of  Dryden*s  real 
Philosophy,  lines  770  ff. 

(2)  Prof.  Hrnest  Bernbaum  has  a conclusive  article  on  Mrs.  Behn*s 
career  as  a romancer  masquerading’  as  a realist  in  the  Modern  Lang- 

Aonnoaati  oja^pufrli  cations , ■ v X3HTIIT.  - ~~  " 


I 


I 


t 


t 


r 


-37- 


After  being  treated  with  cruelty, Orinooko  leads  a revolt  against 
his  Christian  tormentors,  who  promise  his  followers  immunity  if  they 
capitulate.  Deserted,  he  and  Imoinda  resolve  to  die  together.  He 
slays  her  and  faces  his  persecutors.  To  show  his  contempt  of  them, 
he  cuts  a piece  out  of  his  neck  and  flings  it  in  their  faces.  Then 
with  the  same  heroic  indifference  he  disembowells  himself.  In 
spite  of  this  display  of  "nobility”,  they  take  him  prisoner,  heal 
his  wounds,  and  prepare  him  for  the  torture.  He  dies  nonchal- 
antly  smoking  a pipe  while  they  hack  off  his  nose,  ears,  arms,  and 
legs  with  a dull  knife. 

On  board  the  slave  trader fs  ship  QrinoohD’s  followers 
have  gone  on  hunger  strike,  and  the  worried  captain  assures  their 
chief  that  all  vail  be  freed  when  they  reach  the  new  land.  He  would 
put  the  hero  on  parole,  were  he  not  suspicious  of  what  would  then 
happen;  but  Orinooko  shames  him  with  a lofty  exposition  of  African 
ethics. 

"Let  him  (that  is,  the  captain)  know,  I swear  by  my 
Honour;  which  to  violate  would  not  only  render  me  contemptible  and 
despised  by  all  brave  and  honest  Men,  and  so  give  myself  perpetual 
pain,  but  it  would  be  eternally  offending  and  displeasing  to  all 
Mankind;  harming,  betraying,  circumventing,  and  outraging  all  Lien. 
Bu Punishments  hereafter  are  suffer1!  by  one’s  self;  and  the  World 
takes  no  cognizance  whether  this  Cod  has  revengTd  ’em  or  not,  *tis 
done  so  secretly,  and  def err’d  so  long;  while  the  Man  of  no  Honour 
suffers  every  Moment  the  Scorn  and  Contempt  of  the  hon ester  World, 
and  dies  every  Day  ignominiously  in  his  Dame,  which  is  more  valuable 
than  Life."  (l) 


(1)  U or ks  of  Aphra  Behn,  OrinookQ , p 164 


-58- 


I.Irs.  Behn’  s hero  is  speaking  the  language  of  his  "breth- 
ren in  Dryden,  Otway,  Southern,  and  Lee.  Again  he  addresses  the 
slaves  whom  he  has  been  exhorting  to  revolt.  "Gome,  my  Fellow- 
Slaves,  let  us  descend,  and  see  if  we  can  meet  with  more  Honesty 
and  Honour  in  the  IText  World  we  shall  touch  upon."  (1)  When  he 
makes  love,  it  is  in  the  same  grandiloquent  manner,  for  young 

Indians  Mrs.  Behn  does  not  seem  to  distinguish  between 

Indians  and  Africans  fold  their  arms,  follow  the  desired 

one  with  soulful  glances, and  sighs  are  their  only  language.  (2) 

His  action  is  unmistakably  in  the  heroic  manner.  Mrs.  Behn  re- 
marks that  in  a state  of  innocence  men  did  not  know  how  to  sin, 
and  that  "simple  nature  is  the  most  harmless,  inoffensive,  and 
virtuous  mistress."  (3)  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
slaves  desert  Orinooko  in  his  time  of  need;  so  it  is  obvious  that 
all  are  not  noble  and  true  in  the  primitive  state,  and  Orinooko 
may  not  be  considered  as  the  lofty  and  primitive  soul  of  Jean- 
Jacques  but  a creation  after  the  manner  of  the  author’s  times. 

Besides,  it  has  been  proved  beyond  doubt  that  Mrs.  Behn’s  knowledge 
of  the  savage  was  vicariously  obtained. 

The  Hoble  Bavage  and  his  beautiful  innocence  remained 
popular  on  the  English  stage  and  in  nnglish  fiction  for  several 


(1)  Ibid,  p 166-7 
(3)  Ibid,  p 131 


(2)  Ibid,  p 131 


-29- 


generations.  He  became  almost  as  indispensable  as  the  square- 
jawed  capitalist  in  the  modern  problem  novel  or  the  uncut  diamond 
in  the  fiction  of  the  Indiana  school,  and  he  is  presented  to  us  in 
a variety  of  thin  disguises.  in  Penelope  Aubin1 s The  Noble  Slaves 
we  are  again  presented  with  a more  or  less  noble  savage  whose  love 
for  his  mistress  he  confesses  as  he  dies.  He  tells  her  he  was  born 
as  free  as  she  is,  but  religion  and  his  present  servitude  make  the 
difficulties  of  courtship  insuperable.  (1)  The  author  implies 
that  the  slave  is  just  as  admirable  a character  as  a white’ man  in 
his  natural  state. 

There  is  not  much  in  these  dithyrambic  utterances  on  the 
Noble  Savage  to  make  him  live  for  us.  Mrs.  Hehn  did  not  know  the 
new  world,  and  neither  did  southern,  who  dramatized  the  story  of 
Orinooko.  Mrs.  Aubin1 s geography  is  constantly  an  incomparable  joy 
to  the  twentieth  century  reader.  Persia  and  Japan  are  apparently 
but  a few  leagues  apart.  The  hero  travels  from  Quebec  to  Panama, 

Mexico,  or  some  such  other  place Ilfs  Aubin  does  not  seem  to 

know  exactly  which  ---  by  stage  coach,  and  her  Japanese  Indians 
speak  Chinese.  Now  a humanitarian  is  seldom  or  never  created  by 
the  vicarious  contemplation  of  another’s  woe.  Among  the  religious 
antagonists  to  slavery,  we  do  encounter  a mild  indignation  at  the 

(1)  Aubin,  Noble  Slaves , p 7 


. . 


I 


-40- 


lot  of  the  savage,  though  the  soul  is  of  principal  concern;  but 
among  the  writers  of  fiction  and  drama  the  conventional  idea  of 
African  or  Indian  nobility  was  wholly  without  sympathy,  because  the 
author  did  not  know  his  characters  and  because  he  was  following  a 
convention.  Either  there  i s no  emotional  attitude  on  the  part  of 
the  author  or  the  story  lacks  verisimilitude,  and  very  often  in  the 
heroic  tragedy  the  idea  of  primitive  excellence  is  introduced  too 
casually  to  make  the  reader  suspect  the  author  of  sincerity. 

3. 

I have  shorn  how  the  various  Protestant  churches  and  the 
Catholic  Contributed  their  part  to  the  developing  sentiment  against 
slavery  in  the  Hew  World  by  invoking  the  law  of  Cod  against  it; 
and  how  the  idea  of  the  Hoble  Savage  arose  as  a stock  figure  in  the 
tragedies  of  the  Restoration  theatre.  My  purpose  now  is  to  ii  ow 
how  this  artificial  conception  of  the  seventeenth  century  ceased  to 
be  a convention  of  the  far  side  of  the  proscenium  arch  and  how  it 
became  of  use  in  the  practical  application  of  humanitarian  philosophy 
But  first  it  is  necessary  to  sketch  briefly  the  background  of  events 
which  prompted  the  attacks  on  slavery  by  the  humanitarians  and  the 
apologetics  of  their  opponents. 

Before  1729  colonists  returning  to  England  on  business 

or  for  a holiday  often  brought  a few  slaves  with  them.  Since  it 
was  a generally  recognized  maxim  of  English  la w that  a slave  when 
baptized  became  free,  many  negroes  obtained  baptism  and  successfully 


-41- 


reiisted  their  masters1  attempts  to  force  them  to  return  to  American 
bondage.  The  actual  conditions  were  brought  more  vividly  before 
the  English  people  when  in  that  year  the  attorney  and  solicitor- 
general  handed  down  the  opinion  that  baptism  of  a slave  in  England 
did  not  automatically  free  him.  To  test  the  validity  of  this  de- 
cision, Granville  Sharp  took  up  the  cause  in  1765.  In  that  year, 
Jonathan  Strong,  a slave  from  Barbadoes,  who  had  been  baptized, 
was  seized  by  his  master  when  about  to  return  to  his  plantation; 
but  Sharp  succeeded  in  frightening  his  owner  into  withdrawing 
pressure  by  threatening  to  prosecute  him  for  assault  if  he 
tried  to  remove  the  negro.  (1) 

In  1769  the  case  of  James  Somerset  came  up.  The  question 
involved  was  a larger  one  than  that  of  emancipation  by  baptism. 

The  courts  were  asked  to  decide  whether  or  not  a slave  brought  on 
English  soil  automatically  became  free.  Somerset,  an  African  slave, 
had  been  brought  to  England  by  his  master,  from  whom  he  subsequent- 
ly escaped.  The  master  had  the  man  seized  and  conveyed  aboard  a 
vessel  bound  for  Jamaica.  The  decision  handed  down  in  1772  was  in 
favor  of  the  enemies  of  slavery.  The  result  of  the  trial  had  far 
reaching  effects.  The  case  was  discussed  throughout  England. 

Whereas  it  was  libellous  in  those  days  to  tell  the  truth  in  a 
nev/spaper  about  the  maltreatment  of  a negro,  such  information,  if 
given  in  open  court, might  be  published  with  impunity.  (2) 


(1)  Clarkson,  History  of  the  African  Sla  ve  Trade  . Chap.  I sec  II 

( 2)  Spear . The  American  Sla  ve  Trade  , p 104 


- 


I 


I 


* 

-42- 


From  that  time  on  memoirs  and  travel  stories  written  by  those  who 
knew  conditions  on  the  African  and  American  coasts  were  published 
almost  without  number. 

Sharp  continued  his  investigations.  He  found  that 
negro  slaves  brought  to  England  were  cast  upon  public  charity  when 
they  no  longer  were  fit  for  service,  and  that  conditions  aboard  the 
slavers  touching  at  home  ports  were  unbelievably  bad.  So  closely 
were  the  Africans  packed  together  in  the  filthy  holds  of  vessels 
that  the  mortality  among’  both  victims  and  masters  was  terrific. 

Even  William  Beckford,  father  of  the  author  of  Vathek,  himself 
an  owner  of  slaves  in  Jamaica,  admitted  this.  (1)  In  1787, 

Thomas  Clarkson  and  Granville  Sharp  organized  the  Committee  for 
the  Abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade,  which  obtained  the  passage  of 
the  first  bill  for  the  regulation  of  the  traffic  and  started  the 
movement  vh ich  resulted  in  its  final  abolition  in  1807.  The  pub- 
licity of  the  investigations  made  by  the  committee  in  English  port 
towns,  where  they  found  the  space  allotted  to  each  captive  to  be  fiv< 
feet  six  inches  long  by  sixteen  inches  broad,  extended  to  the 
far  corners  of  England.  (2)  The  committee Ts  bill  called  for  a 
limitation  of  the  number  of  slaves  carried  and  for  their  greater 

(1)  Beckford,  He  marks  upon  the  Situation  of  ilegroes  in  Jamaica 
(2)  Clarkson,  History  of  the  African  Slave  Trade,  Chap.  2,  sec  1 
Bandinel,  Slave  Trade,  p 81 


-43- 


c.omfort.  On  the  third  attempt  in  Parliament  the  Dolhens  bill  pass- 
ed both  houses  and  became  a law  in  1788. 

In  the  eighteenth  century,  however,  long'  before  Granville 
Sharp  gained  fame  as  the  first  abolitionist,  there  were  many 
humanitarians,  among  the  first  and  most  interesting  being  Joseph 
Addison.  I have  quoted  before  his  satire  on  the  ruthless  virtuosi 
of  his  times,  and  certainly  if  one  wants  evidence  of  his  kindly 
feelings  toward  all  living  things,  one  does  not  have  to  look  far 
among  the  Spectator  papers  or  in  the  work  of  his  friends  on  The 
Guardi an . In  one  essay  he  elaborates  the  idea  that  education  is 
the  sculptor  of  the  human  spirit.  To  illustrate  his  point  he  tells 
how  two  slaves  with  wondrous  "greatness  of  soul"  killed  their  love 
because  neither  might  possess  her  alone.  What  might  not  this  in- 
herent nobility  produce  if  the  oppressed  races  were  given  an  op- 
portunity for  cultivation?  There  certainly  can  be  no  excuse  at  all 
for  the  contempt  in  which  we  hold  the  lives  of  savages,  merely  in- 
flicting a fine,  as  we  do,  on  the  man  who  takes  their  lives  and  com- 
pletely depriving  them  sometimes  of  their  chances  for  immortality. 
(1) 

Addison* s point  of  vi ew  is  significant.  The  master  is  to 
be  condemned,  and  so  is  society,  £§r  carelessness  of  human  life, 
which  should  be  valued  more  highly.  The  master  is  to  be  condemned 
for  keeping  a soul  from  salvation.  In  these  assertions  Addison  is 
voicing  sentiments  we  have  heard  before  in  Godwyn;  but  the  younger 

(1)  Spectator . no.  215 


-44- 


man,  unlike  his  predecessor,  stresses,  the  importance  of  the  "body 
of  man  and  subordinates  salvation,  at  least  so  far  as  his  rhetorical 
emphasis  goes.  We  find,  too,  that  there  really  is  such  a thing  as 
"savage  greatness  of  soul"*  Addison  accepts  the  story  as  fact, 
and  from  the  number  of  times  it  is  quoted  by  later  humanitarians  it 
must  generally  have  been  considered  authentic.  The  author  certain- 
ly believed  it.  In  this  essay  there  seems  to  be  the  first  evidence 
of  a combination  of  the  religious  and  literary  attitudes  toward 
the  savage.  He  was  not  a reformer,  of  course;  so  he  holds  no 
brief  for  emancipation  or  abolition.  His  sympathy  is  purely  in- 
tellectual . 

This  idea  of  the  inherent  nobility  of  even  the  prim- 
itive man  appears  as  a serious  thesis  in  Colonel  Jacque  (IVES). 

On  the  Virginia  plantation  where  Jacque  found  himself  a bondman 
is  a master  who  objects  to  the  brutal  treatment  of  his  slaves. 

He  insists  that  in  them,  as  in  every  other  man,  there  is  good  stuff 
which  responds  to  the  right  sort  of  treatment.  The  negroes  were 
not  only  to  be  handled  kindly  by  their  overseers  but  they  were  to 
be  reasoned  with  if  they  did  wrong-,  for  their  master  believed  them 
to  be  rational..  In  the  discussion  the  owner , of  course,  vans 
his  point.  "It  appeared,"  said  Jacque,  "that  negroes  were  to  be 
reasoned  into  things  as  well  as  other  people,  and  it  was  by  this 
managing  their  reason  that  most  of  the  work  was  done."  (l) 

To  use  them  unkindly,  "is  a violence  upon  nature  in  every  way, 

(l)  Colonel  Jacoue . p 174 


t t 

' 

• 

- 

. 


t 


: 


; 


-45- 


an l is  the  most  disagreeable  thing  in  the  world  to  a generous  mind." 
(1)  Like  Addison,  Defoe  holds  no  brief  for  emancipation  or  the 
curtailment  of  the  trade.  He  urges  only  that  the  Blacks  be  treat- 
ed like  free  men,  for  they  are  noble.  They  are  to  be  treated 
humanely,  for  it  is  contrary  to  the  law  of  nature  that  they  oe  per- 
secuted. Unlike  the  early  clerical  writers  on  the  subject,  he 
argues  from  the  law  of  nature  instead  of  xrom  Hie  lav/  ol  G-oci,  c.nd 
the  emphasis  on  humanity  and  the  insistence  on  humane  treatment 
to  the  body  supersedes  the  early  distress  over  the  negroes'  welfare 
in  the  life  to  come. 

Shortly  before  and  immediately  after  the  middle  of  the 
century  the  presses  were  issuing  sermons  and  poetry  on  Hie  ins  c i mi 
tion  of  slavery  at  a tremendous  rate.  Dyer  attacked  it  in  The 
Fleece,  though  not  vigorously,  and  prophesies  revolt  and  bloodshcf 
if  the  negroes  were  not  more  kindly  treated.  Grainger  made  a plea 
for  the  humane  treatment  of  Africans,  though  at  the  same  time  in 
Sugar  Cane  he  seems  to  want  to  justify  the  system.  George  white- 
field  wrote  in  no  uncertain  terms  to  the  He th odists  of  America  in 
L Letter  to  the  Inhabitants  of  Maryland , Virginia,  llorth  and  sou  oh 
Carolina,  in  which  he  assured  them  they  were  no  better  by  nature 


(1)  Colonel  Jacque , p 167 


-46- 


than  were  the  negroes.  If  revolt  were  to  come  as  a result  of  the 
colonists*  inhumanity,  they  would  merely  he  getting  what  such  cruel- 
ty merited.  Even  Shenstone , wandering  about  the  bench-cluttered 
"landslip"  of  the  Leasowes,  speaks  pityingly  of  the  negroes1  wretch- 
ed lot,  a significant  fact,  since  his  life  and  thoughts  were  far 
away  from  the  world  as  it  existed  in  reality. 

Bishop  Warburton  delivered  a sermon  before  the  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  1766,  which  shows  how  far  the 
Church  of  England  position  had  changed  since  the  days  of  Morgan 
Godwyn.  The  purpose  of  the  society  was  just  that  which  its  name 
implies,  to  further  the  Gospel,  and  consequently  he  discusses  pretty 
thoroughly  the  sti  ortcomings  of  the  Anglicans  as  missionaries,  The 
welfare  of  the  natives,  he  says,  is  as  nothing  to  the  desire  of 
the  colonists  to  exploit  them.  Gain  is  their  God.  They  traffic 
endlessly  in  Africans,  just  as  if  the  negroes  were  brutes.  White 
men  and  negroes  are  brothers,  and  the  slaves  have  all  the  faculties 
of  the  superior  race. 

All  this  is  far  from  new.  But  he  voices  the  sentiments 
of  the  later  humanitarians  when  he  invokes  both  divine  law  and 
nature  against  the traffickers  in  human  lives.  White  men  and  black 
men  are  "brethren  both  by  nature  and  grace."  (l)  In  refuting  the 
slave- owners*  argument  that  the  negro  is  happier  bond  than  free,  he 


(1)  Warburton,  Works , v 10  p 55 


-47- 

reasserts  his  thesis  that  ’’nature  created  man  free,  and  Grace  in- 
vites him  to  assert  his  freedom.”  (X)  Godwin  and  his  contempor- 
aries invoked  the  law  of  God;  Defoe  invoked  the  law  of  nature. 
Warburton  invoked  both.  Humanity  and  common  sense  as  well  as  re- 
vealed religion  are  shocked  at  the  godless  commercialism  of  the 
t ime  s . 

As  one  examines  the  works  of  those  who  attack  the  slave 
trade  during  the  fifties  and  sixties  of  the  eighteenth  century,  he 
is  more  and  more  impressed  with  the  manner  in  which  the  movement 
gained  its  strength  from  widely  different  groups  and  what  strange 
companions  some  of  these  humanitarian  champions  would  have  made. 
Rousseau's  famous  works  were  well  known  in  ^urope  by  1770.  America 
stood  on  the  brink  of  rebellion.  It  is  as  if  in  the  stock  rooms 
of  controversy  there  were  innumerable  properties  available  for  any 
crusade  in  behalf  of  the  oppressed.  Among  the  borrowers  appeared 
John  Wesley  in  1774,  a passionate  opponent  of  slavery,  for  he  had 
seen  it  as  it  was  during  his  American  visit;  and  like  his  friend, 
Whitefield,  he  viewed  its  effects  with  horror.  Wesley  was  certain- 
ly no  follower  of  Rousseau,  even  when  he  maintained  that  negroes 
had  an  inalienable  right  to  their  liberty,  for  he  had  no  sympathy 
with  those  English  radicals  who  gathered  about  Dr.  Price.  He  ex- 
pended a,  great  deal  of  his  passionate  eloquence  in  apologetics 
for  George  III  and  his  government  in  Observations  on  Lioerty  and 


(1)  War burton,  works,  v 10  p 55 


. 


-48- 


A Calm  Address,  Political  liberty  interested  him  but  little.  He 
was  willing  in  the  former  pamphlet  to  dawdle  with  the  reducti o ad 
absur&um.  like  an  expert  in  sophistry. 

When  it  came  to  concrete  rights  that  is,  the  physical 

freedom  of  man  to  go  and  come  as  he  would  --  Wesley  used  his  voice 
in  the  interests  of  the  slave,  attacking  the  whole  system  with 
the  true  fire  of  the  later  eighteenth  century  humanitarians. 

Thoughts  on  Slavery  appeared  in  1774  when  the  beauties  of  liberty 
were  interesting  to  Europe  and  were  particularly  interesting  to 
the  western  world.  He  opens  his  essay  with  a description  of  the 
land  of  Guinea  and  a characterization  of  the  gentle  savages  who 
cultivate  the  soil,  manufacture  a few  articles,  and  live  most 
peaceably  among  themselves.  They  are  sober,  industrious,  and 
noble,  except  in  those  sections  where  they  have  been  corrupted  by 
the  white  men.  "Where  shall  we  find,  at  this  day,"  he  cries, 

"among  the  fair-faced  natives  of  Europe,  a nation  generally  pro- 
claiming the  justice,  mercy,  and  truth,  which  are  found  among 
these  poor  JLfricans."  (l)  In  other  words,  the  English  may  leave 
their  native  land  to  find  genuine  virtue  among  the  people  they  en- 
slave. In  reply  to  the  current  story  that  negroes  sell  their  child- 
ren, he  vehemently  retorts,  "Whites,  not  Blacks,  are  without  natural 
affection!"  (2)  If  the  negro  is  stupid,  it  is  because  of  his 
master,  for  he  is  in  no  respect  inferior  to  the  European  (3)  and 

(1)  Wesley,  Works,  y.  16,  (2)  Ibid,  p 450.  (3)  Ibid,  p 460 

p.  448. 


T 


♦ 


* 


-49- 


in  some  respects  he  is  superior  (1)  when  he  has  a European’s  oppor- 
tunities. 

Like  many  of  those  who  preceded  him,  Wesley  invokes  the 
natural  law,  a convenient  enough  term  until  it  is  defined.  He 
uses  it,  however,  in  the  conventional  eighteenth  century  sense  as 
"the  nature  of  things",  the  law  of  things  as  they  are,  which  man 
discovers  without  the  aid  of  revelation,  and  more  to  he  heeded  than 
the  man-made  laws  which  violate  the  principles  of  justice.  The 
Angolan  has  the  same  natural  rights  as  the  Englishmen  (2)  to  per- 
sonal liberty.  In  his  argument  from  natural,  law  he  passionately  ar- 
raigns those  who  would  debase  their  own  kind,  who  have  no  proper 
regard  for  the  true  majesty  of  man  and  his  inherent  goodness. 

In  John  Wesley,  then,  we  can  most  easily  see  how  the 
two  earlier  conceptions  of  the  negro  have  been  synthesized. 

Slavery  is  an  odious  practice,  because  it  is  contrary  to  the  lav/  of 
God.  It  is  still  more  odious,  because  it  violates  the  law  of  nature 
which  grants  every  man  his  physical  liberty.  The  noble  savage  of 
Dryden  and  Behn  becomes  a genuinely  noble  savage,  not  the  creature 
of  the  imagination.  He  is  as  good  as  the  white  man  when  he  has  the 
opportunity.  Even  without  them  he  is  more  honest  and  is  in  no  way 
inferior.  Addison  would  not  have  gone  so  far  if  he  had  been  con- 
fronted with  the  consequences  of  the  point  of  view  taken  in  the 
Spectator  paper  quoted. 


(1)  Wesley,  Works , p 459.  (2)  Ibid,  p 455 


-50- 


The  last  humanitarian  to  be  discussed  here  is  Thomas  bay, 
a man  whose  views  represent  the  philosophic  ideas  before  described, 
with  the  contribution  that  Rousseauism  would  naturally  make  as 
soon  as  the  humanitarians  realized  how  aptly  the  theory  of  the 
rights  of  man  could  be  applied  to  the  situation  of  the  oppressed 
Africans.  Unlike  John  Wesley,  Day  was  a vigorous  supporter  of 
colonial  rights.  The  year  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was 
signed  he  wrote  his  tract  on  slavery  for  an  American  who  had  asked 
him  for  an  opinion  on  the  question;  but  he  witheld  the  letter  from 
public  at ion  until  1784,  because  he  did  not  wish  to  make  his  criticism 
public  before  "the  happy  termination  of  that  disastrous  war." 

Among  manTs  indisputable  rights  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness . (^In  kindly  fashion  but  none  the  less  forcibly,  Day 
turns  upon  the  colonists  their  own  Rousseauistic  arguments  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  'while  they  were  fighting  for  their 
political  integrity,  they  were  holding  in  bondage  men  of  another 
color  whose  rights  to  the  good  things  of  earth  were  equal  with  that 
of  the  whites#  To  attack  the  system  as  it  exists  is  but  to  obey 
the  necessitous  promptings  of  morality;  for  if  men  are  enslaved, 
the  enslavers  will  degenerate.  Natural  religion  refuses  to  sanction 
slavery.  Revealed  religion  deplores  it.  A man  has  no  more  right 
to  be  cruel  to  another  than  he  has  the  right  to  kill  at  pleasure, 
and  to  abuse  a fellow  is  a "flagitious  insult  upon  justice,  human- 
ity, and  common  sense.”  (l)  "If  there  be  an  object  truly  ridiculous 

Day,  fragment  of  an  Original  Letter,  p 13 
(1)  Ibid,  p 28-9 


-51- 


in  nature,"  he  continues,  "it  is  an  American  patriot,  signing  resolu- 
tions of  independency  with  the  one  hand,  and  with  the  other  brand- 
ishing a whip  over  his  affrighted  slaves •"  (l)  The  only  justifica- 

tion for  slavery  as  well  as  the  only  justification  for  government 
is  the  consent  of  all  parties  concerned. 

During  the  first  forty  years  after  the  Restoration  the 
humanitarian  element  in  writers  on  the  subject  is  subordinate. 

The  churches  wanted  to  enlarge  their  field  of  missionary  endeavor, 
and  therefore  their  primary  interest  was  to  make  easier  their  wo rk 
in  preaching  tM  G-ospel.  The  spirit  of  competition  among  the 
various  creeds  w.  s strong.  Their  purpose  in  converting  and  civil- 
izing the  savage  was  to  add  new  bulwarks  to  Christianity  and  to 
acquire  more  stars  for  their  celestial  crowns  than  their  com- 
petitors of  other  creeds.  Hence,  they  fought  an  institution 
which  obstructed  their  designs.  The  only  literary  purpose  of  such 
writers  as  Mrs.  Behn  was  to  utilize  the  new  material  made  avail- 
able by  exploration.  The  savage  appealed  to  the  imagination  and 
was  treated  in  the  same  terms  as  the  other  heroes  of  the  age. 

He  wa s honorable  , because  all  heroes  of  the  period  were  ready  to 
sacrifice  anything  for  the  sake  of  fictional  rectitude.  Later  we 
find  Addison  and  Defoe  actually  believing  in  the  inherent  nobility 
of  the  savage,  who  was  therefore  not  to  be  mistreated,  because  his 

(1)  Day,  Fragment  of  an  Original  Letter,  p 55 


1 


< 


< 


-52- 


ill  treatment  was  a violation  of  nature's  law.  He  is  as  good  inher- 
ently as  is  the  white  man.  With  the  introduction  of  Rousseauism, 
the  theory  that  all  authority  is  to  he  based  upon  the  consent  of 
the  governed  is  accepted  by  those  who  support  their  humanitarianism 
by  divine  precept  and  natural  law.  With  the  constant  reiteration 
of  the  idea  of  the  brotherhood  of  man,  it  is  easily  to  be  seen  why 
Granville  Sharp  and  his  friends  were  able  to  accomplish  a r forma- 
tion of  a system  when  others  had  tried  vainly.  As  the  groups  before 
described  joined  forces  with  those  who  would  extend  toleration  and 
brotherly  love  to  the  lower  species,  so  the  eighteenth  century  pre- 
pared itself  in  a variety  of  ways  for  the  idea  of  a society  in 
which  no  creature  or  thing  that  feels  is  ineligible  if  he  lives  at 
peace  with  those  about  him. 


-53- 


Q HAP TER  III. 

HUIAUITARIARISH  ARE  TIE  LOWER  ARIHALS. 

1#  The  changing  attitude  toward  country  and  the  consequent 
change  in  attitude  toward  animals.  2.  The  philosophic  justifica- 
tion of  human i tarianism.  5.  The  status  of  animals  in  a man- 
ruled  world  as  stated  by  the  humanitarians.  4.  The  application 
of  the  new  sensibility  to  British  institutions.  5.  Widenin' 
sympathies  with  lower  as  well  as  higher  animals.  6.  Increased 

observation  of  animals  the  skylark  in  eighteenth  century 

poetry.  7.  Conclusion. 

1. 

The  people  of  the  great  English  hinterland  in  the  early 
eighteenth  century,  bourgeoisie  or  quality,  lived  their  ordered 
lives,  bartered,  hunted,  kept  the  lower  clergy  in  a proper  state 
of  subjection,  and  were  eventually  buried  beneath  epitaphs  suit- 
able to  their  temporal  state.  &ut  so  far  as  the  poets  who  lived 
in  the  time  of  "great  Anna"  were  concerned,  this  mass  of  the 
English  nation  was  unknown  or  despised.  Going  to  the  country 
lor  a Londoner  meant  a bouncing  journey  over  a rough  road  in  a 
clumsy  coach,  and  he  seldom  made  such  a journey  of  his  own  ac- 
cord. Since  all  life  centered  in  “Town",  which  meant  then  as 
now  London  and  the  suburbs,  the  attitude  toward  the  country 

was  one  of  undisguised  distaste;  toward  the  rural  "looby”,  one 
of  undisguised  contempt. 


*•  • 

• . 

0 C 

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- 

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. 

♦ 

. 

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, 

• 

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, 

• 

- 

, 

: 

. 

-54- 


Gay  shows  what  this  e ighteenth  century  attitude  was  when 
he  tells  how  we,  unlike  our"pristine  sires",  do  not  seek  the  cool 
retreat  with  "sublimest  joy"  to  rest  from  the  noisy  clatter  of 
the  city.  Rather,  the  city  man  would  betake  himself  to  the 
Devil  tavern,  where  he  might  find  other  companions  like  himself 
to  help  him  while  away  the  hours.  (1)  Pope  himself  adored  the 
Town  and  loathed  all  that  country  which  lay  beyond  his  own  estate 
at  Twickenham.  There  is  something  artificial  and  modish  about 
his  essay  on  gardening,  in  which  he  professes  to  scorn  "the 
nicer  elegancies  of  art"  and  prefers  a greater  fidelity  to  unadorn- 
ed nature.  He  was  following  "the  Pindaric  manner".  (2)  His 
heroine,  Arabella  Blount,  after  the  coronation,  returns  to  the 
terrible  ennui  of  the  country  seat,  where  polite  talk  did  not 
exist,  where  guests  came  seldom,  where  diversions  were  few,  and 

where peerless  woe  I she  dined  at  noon  instead  of  at 

four.  (5)  Mathew  Prior,  Dean  Swift,  and  humbler  He  a Ward  add 
their  praise  of  Town  life.  In  the  chorus  of  Queen  Anne  singers 
only  obscure  Hlijah  Fenton  speaks  for  a quiet  refuge  away  from 
disillusionment s of  the  city,  (4)  and  Thomas  Parnell  sees  in 
the  rural  scene  a place  in  which  to  regain  health  after  years 
spent  "softening  till  high  noon  in  down".  (5) 

(1)  Gay,  Wine . L 140  ff 

(2)  Guardian,  no  175.  "My  compositions  in  gardening  are  al^.- 
gether  after  The  Pindaric  manner,  and  run  into  the  beautiful /nature 
without  affecting  the  nicer  elegancies  of  art." 

( 3)  Bpistle  to  Arabella  31 ount . vol  III , p 226 . 

(4) -  Fenton,  -^pis tie  to  Mr.  Southern 

(5)  Parnell,  Health. 


c 


-55- 


The  town  life  of  Pope,  in  which  the  park  represented  exter- 
nal  nature,  was  not  quickly  repudiated  hy  the  evangelists  of  the 
hack  to  nature  movement;  and  consequently  the  first  gentlemen 
who  became  mildly  enthusiastic  over  the  rural  scene  and  vh  o for- 
sook London  for  their  estates  recast  nature  nearer  to  their  heart Ts 
desire  and  introduced  ideas  similar  to  those  which  had  created 
the  precision  of  Versailles.  Sculptured  nymphs  and  pagan  goddess- 
es  peeped  chastely  through  English  holly;  meticulously  correct 
walks  gave  a glimpse  of  meticulously  correct  vistas;  Virgilian 
wildness,  with  waterfalls,  grottoes,  and  hermitages,  gradually 
became  fashionable.  But  before  the  century  had  passed  irregular- 
ity was  popular,  and  ruins  had  become  the  mode.  If  none  was  avail- 
able, the  landscape  artists  constructed  a fane  with  a broken  arch 
to  meet  the  popular  demand.  Even  before  1V50  there  had  been  a 
general  exodus  from  the  city  by  the  cultivated,  whereby  the 
poetry  of  nature  became  less  artificial;  for  even  at  the 
Leasowes,  where  Shenstone  was  decorating  the  countryside  with 
summer  pavilions  and  geometric  paths,  the  real  nature  v/as  so 
close  at  hand  that  even  an  obtuse  observer  must  perforce  have 
become  familiar  with  it. 

After  James  Thomson  published  The  Reasons  (published 
entire  in  1750),  the  first  great  nature  poem  of  the  new  era,  the 

rural  scene  became  fashionable.  The  poets  vh o followed  modified 
the  rules  of  taste  laid  down  by  the  School  of  Pope.  Thomson 
was  working  with  his  eye  on  the  object.  He  did  not  break  entirely 


I 

' 


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. 


. 


, 


V 


- 


, 


, 


, ' ' 


' 


. 


* 


I 


-56- 

wi  th  neo- classic  tradition,  but  lie  did  not  slavishly  follow  any 
neo-classic  model  either  in  form  or  content*  He  knew  the 
country  he  described  because  he  had  lived  there;  so,  for  that 
matter,  did  Shenstone,  who  created  at  Leasowes  the  most  famous 

I 

ferme  orne  in  England , the  model  for  all  ladies  and  gentlemen 
who  would  keep  abreast  of  the  fashion*  Pope,  the  leader  of  the 
Queen  Anne  wits,  had  spent  his  boyhood  at  Windsor  in  an  atmosphere 
far  from  rural.  As  the  splendor  of  his  school  began  to  fa.de, 
the  star  of  the  nature-loving  school  began  to  brighten.  Other 
poets  followed  Thomson’s  lead  in  describing  the  country.  Some 
undoubtedly  accepted  the  new  mode  in  the  spirit  of  Shenstone , 
who  went  to  his  estates  because  he  lacked  funds,  rather  than 
because  he  loved  them,  but  who  helped,  nevertheless,  to  establish 
the  new  manner. 

Hearly  all  the  poets  of  nature  who  followed  Thomson  were 
country-bred.  That  in  itself  explains  why  they  could  reproduce 
so  accurately  the  rural  locale.  He  himself'  had  been  born  in 
Bo xburghe shire . Dyer  came  from  south  Wales.  Akenside  was  rear- 
ed at  Newcastle- on- Tyne , in  a district  with  many  border  traditions. 
William  Junius  Mickel  and  Allan  Bamsay  both  knew  the  country 
in  their  youth.  Somerville  was  a Warwickshire  squire.  Henry 
Brooke  was  born  in  Ireland  and  spent  the  greater  part  of  his 
life  there.  Gray,  though  born  in  London,  lived  in  his  mature 

years  amid  the  placid  beauties  of  Cambridgeshire.  Cowper,  also 
townbred,  spent  the  most  tranquil  period  of  his  life  at  Olney. 


f 


T 


. 


-57- 


(1)  Lady  Winchilsea,  who  really  belongs  to  the  earlier  period, 
had  been  a writer  of  society  verse  until  after  James  II1  s debacle 
after  which  she  had  been  forced  into  retirement,  from  that  time 
on  she  wrote  poems  about  nature  far  superior  to  similar  work 
by  the  other  writers  of  her  times. 

The  first  reason  for  the  return  to  nature  movement,  then, 
was  that  the  poets  of  the  new  era  came  from  the  country  and 
knew  what  they  were  talking  about.  They  were  not  trying  to 
make  the  English  landscape  a replica  of  that  inti®  classic 
bucolics.  It  was  this  perfectly  natural  interest  in  a familiar 
locale  and  the  revulsion  from  a no  longer  novel  form  of  writing 
that  resulted  in  an  increased  observation  of  country  insteaxL  of 
city  life.  Animals,  hitherto  mentioned  most  casually  in  the 
poetry  of  siueen  Anne’s  time,  became  a fit  subject  for  poetry. 

Poets  whose  primary  interest  is  in  man  will  love  the  town,  just 
as  the  neo-classicists  did.  Human  nature  is  their  field.  They 
will  know  it  thoroughly.  Poets  whose  primary  interest  is  external 
world  will  love  the  country,  just  as  the  followers  of  Thomson  did. 

(1)  When  Cowper  was  in  London,  he  tried  to  write  satire  in  the 
neo-classic  manner.  But  his  years  in  rural  England,  when  he  broke 
away  from  the  imitators  of  the  classics,  Yi/ere  as  successful  and 
probably  far  more  useful  than  any  other  in  his  pitiful  life,  de- 
spite the  Reverend  John  Hewton  and  his  overweening  interest  in 
the  fires  of  hell. 


-58- 


All  nature  is  their  field.  Many  other  creatures  besides  man  live 
in  meadow  and  wood.  Quite  naturally,  the  new  school  became 
sympathetic  with  an  almost  entirely  new  kind  of  life. 

I have  already  shown  how  sensitiveness  to  human  suffering 
had  developed  after  the  callousness  of  the  Restoration  period. 

I intend  in  this  section  of  my  essay  to  study  the  causes  of 
eighteenth  century  humanitarian  feeling  toward  animals  and  to 
examine  the  various  sources  of  its  philosophic  justification. 

I shall  point  out  how  the  new  philosophic  theories  and  the  love 
of  animal  life  were  applied  to  such  secure  English  institutions 
as  the  hunt,  last  of  all,  I want  to  point  out  how  the  sensitive- 
ness to  suffering  was  democratized  so  as  to  include  almost  all 
sentient  creatures  and  how  this  love  affected  English  poetry. 

2. 

Undoubtedly,  the  English  were  prepared  for  a revival  of 
the  healthy  sympathies  and  the  exultant  gusto  of  late  Elizabethan 
romanticism.  The  early  eighteenth  century  had  been  moved  by 
the  sufferings  of  slaves.  It  had  found  a pleasurable  thrill  in 
the  newly-discovered  beauty  of  the  country.  It  was  prepared, 
therefore,  to  be  positively  tender  to  animals.  It  was  prepared, 
therefore,  to  observe  them  more  closely.  The  intellectual  and 
emotional  self-restraint  of  the  previous  century  was  becoming 


-59- 


irritating.  The  Guardian  had  spoken  tenderly  of  animals  and  de- 
clared that  even  the  fierce  ones  never  attacked  unless  they  were 
molested.  It  had  gone  further  and  had  declared  it  man’s  duty 
to  be  kind,  because  the  lower  species  were  not  entitled  to  everlast- 
ing life  and  because  man  had  been  placed  here  below  as  trustee. 

Even  hunting,  that  thoroughly  secure  British  institution,  mas 
wrong,  because  it  tended  to  make  the  human  race  more  brutal.  (1) 
Defoe  in  the  first  three  decades  of  the  new  century  was  to  write 
his  sociological  novels.  Agitation  for  reform  followed  one 
another,  wave  after  wave,  throughout  the  era.  Hence  the 
spirit  of  the  Elizabethans  was  tempered  with  new  elements,  and 
for  that  reason  the  early  sentimentalists  of  the  1700’s  went 
as  far  from  the  English  norm  in  the  direction  of  hurnani tarianism 
as  the  seventeenth  century  had  gone  in  the  direction  of  cold- 
blooded scientific  investigation.  The  movement  was  justified 
philosophically  to  the  new  century  by  the  deists  of  the  School 
of  Shaftesbury.  (2) 

(1)  Guardi an.  vol  I,  no  61,  (1715) 

(2)  Mr.  0.  A.  Moore  1ms  explained  with  a great  deal  of  clarity  the 
influence  of  Shaftesbury  and  his  philanthropic  system  in  Character- 
istics . He  demonstrates  that  eighteenth  century  hurnani tarianism  owes 
its  origin  to  the  great  deist.  Though  it  is  quite  obvious  that  the 
earl’s  doctrine  of  divine  benevolence  had  an  enormous  influence  on 
the  poets  of  the  caitury,  Mr.  Moore  has  failed  to  realize  that  there 
were  other  very  tangible  factors  involved  in  shaping  the  movement. 

He  has  forgotten  that  most  of  the  poets  of  the  period  knew  the 
country  well  and  loved  it  in  their  childhood,  that  agitation  agains' 
slavery  had  paved  the  v/ay  for  increased  tenderness,  and  that  an  ac- 
curate observation  of  and  love  of  the  human  race  and  other  species 
may,  as  in  the  present  case,  precede  its  philosophic  justification. 
Shaftesbury  and  the  Ethical  Poets  of  England.  1700-1760,  P.L.I1.A. 
new  series,  vol  24.  Certainly  Winchilsea  and  Gay  were  expressing 
their  love  of  a few  animals  wi thout  making  any  attempt  to  justify 
■khfimspi  nyi  a.  


I 


p < 


-60- 


Since  this  was  a period  in  which  the  thinkers  of  the  per- 
iod were  torn  between  the  conflicting  evidence  of  science  and  re- 
velation, the  followers  of  Shaftesbury  have  their  choice.  They 
might,  like  the  ostrich,  hide  themselves  from  the  disturbances  of 
modernity  by  trusting  to  the  Thirty-liine  Articles,  or  they  might 
betake  themselves  to  the  canp  of  the  materialists,  leaving  all 
religious  baggage  behind.  Plainly,  there  had  to  be  some  kind  of 
compromise  for  those  who  could  not  deny  recently  produced  evidence 
but  who  still  demanded  some  spiritual  balm  in  a world  which  was 
becoming  too  rationalistic  for  comfort.  One  solution  was  the  sent- 
imental system  of  Lord  Shaftesbury,  which  rejected  revelation  as 
the  source  of  knowledge  but  which  saw  in  the  world  around  ample 
evidence  of  divine  benevolence  and  love  for  everything  that  lives. 
God  had  given  to  the  human  species  the  high  gift  of  reason  with 
which  it  might  solace  itself.  (1)  God  is  good.  Virtue  is  the 
chief  excellence  of  man.  It  alone  brings  happiness.  There  are 

two  forces  in  man  a desire  for  selfish  betterment  and  a desire 

for  social  welfare.  When  he  yields  to  the  latter,  he  really  is 
doing  that  which  in  the  end  m 11  redound  most  fully  to  his  own 
welfare.  (2)  The  moral  sense  helps  man  to  distinguish  between 

(1)  The  Return  to  Hature  in  Engl i s h Poetry « N.  C,  Studies  in  Phil, 
vol  14,  p 260-1. 

(2)  Characteristics . vol  2,  p 165. 


, 

* 

t 

t * 

» 

* 

* 

4 

« < 

■ 

* 

• t 

-61- 


right  and  wrong;  and  just  as  God  is  good,  so  man,  his  greatest 
work,  is  naturally  a creature  whose  chief  desire  is  to  he  like  Hirn. 


Therefore,  any  desire  to  commit  wrong  is  unnatural. 


"Of  this  kind  (unnatural  affections)  is  that  unnatural 
and  inhuman  Delight  in  beholding'  Torments,  and  in  viewing  Distress, 
Calamity,  Blood,  Massacre  and  Destruction,  with  a peculiar  Joy  and 
Pleasure.  This  lias  been  the  reigning  Passion  of  many  Tyrants,  and 

and  belongs,  in  some  degree,  to  such  Tempers 
Courteousness  of  Behaviour,  which  retains  in 
of  Mankind,  and  prevents  the  Growth  of  Harsh- 
...  To  see  the  Sufferance  of  an  snemy  with 
may  proceed  from  the  height  of  Anger,  Revenge, 
other  extended  Self-passions:  -out  to  delight  in  the  tor- 


barbarous  Nations; 
as  have  thrown  that 
us  a just  Reverence 
ness  and  Brutality 
cruel 
Pear  and 


Del  ight , 


ture  and  Iain  of  other  Creatures  indifferently.  Natives  or  foreign- 
ers, of  our  own  or  of  another  Species,  Kindred  or  no  Kindred,  known 
or  unknown,  to  feed,  as  it  were,  on  Death,  and  to  be  entertain’d 
with  dying  Agonies:  this  has  nothing  in  it  accountable  in  the  way 

of  Self-interest  or  private  Good  above -mention’d,  but  is  vholly 
and  absolutely  unnatural,  as  it  is  horrid  and  miserable."  (1) 


The  conception  of  God  held  by  Shaftesbury  appears  often 
in  those  writers  who  best  illustrate  the  changing  attitude,  in  the 
years  that  followed,  toward  all  the  species.  Thomson,  first  poet 
of  the  new  century  to  dwell  extensively  upon  the  need  of  kindness 
to  animals,  was  also  the  first  to  emphasize  the  goodness  of  a 

deity  who  reveals  Himself  in  the  order  of  "the  rolling  planets"  

"the  God  of  nature".  (2)  Though  The  Castle  of  Ind olence  is  filled 
With  the  same  philosophic  doctrine,  the  most  unequivocal  acknowledge- 
ment of  divine  benevolence  appears  at  the  conclusion  of  Summer  (1727). 
Taught  by  a tender  and  loving  God,  men  will  prosper  greatly;  and 


if  they  obey  their  Master,  He  will  teach  them 


(1)  Characteristics . vol  2,  p 165 

( 2 ) Hymn'  to  God’s  Power. 


T 


-62- 


To  live  like  brothers,  and,  conjunctive  all. 

Embellish  life,  (l) 

Thomson  reiterates  Shaftesbury1 s doctrine  that  reason  aids  mankind 
to  proceed  from  truth  to  truth.  Some  mysteries,  however,  it  shall 
never  be  permitted  to  pierce,  for  those  things  are  forbidden. 
Suffice  it  to  know  that  God  works  only  in  "boundless  Love  and  per- 
fect Wisdom."  (2) 

The  deistic  rhapsody  is  better  illustrated  by  Henry 
Brooke’s  Uni versal  Beauty  (1755)  than  by  Thomson’s  Summer,  for 
not  only  does  he  preach  the  deism  of  Shaftesbury  but  he  shows 
how  the  shackles  of  neo-classic  restraint  on  the  emotions  had  been 
cast  aside.  He  rises  with  ecstatic  apostrophes  to  the  great 
climax  when  he  finally  addresses  God,  "Thou  Voluntary  Goodness  I" 

(5)  Everywhere  there  are  examples  of  His  kindness  in  this  de- 
mocracy of  nature.  The  to  rid  is  not  made  for  man  alone.  If  he 
wishes  to  learn  truths,  he  should  go  to  the  beasts,  which  heed  the 
divine  law,  instead  of  arrogantly  setting  himself  above  even  God’s 
commands,  and  butchering  carelessly  and  ceaselessly  in  a world 
society  where  all  should  live  in  mutual  tolerance. 

(1)  Summer.  L 1776-7  (2)  Ibid,  I 1804 

(5)  Brooke,  Universal  Beauty,  book  4 1 85 

01  whence  to  us?  or  whence  to  aught?  but  theel 
The  word,  the  bliss,  the  privilege  to  be  — 

Or  if  to  be,  for  thee  alone  to  be, 

Derivative  Great  Author  Sole! 


-63' 


Another  poet  who  accepts  the  Shaftesburian  doctrine  and 
who  applies  it  to  world  conditions  is  Soame  Jenyns.  He  combines 
Christian  theory  with  sentimental  deism  by  rejecting  revelation  as 
the  only  dependable  means  of  knowledge  and  by  retaining  his  be- 
lief, entirdy  through  revelatory  evidence,  in  the  immortality  of 
the  soul.  Jenyns* s Essay  on  V irtue . plainly  an  imitation  of 
Pope*s  Essay  on  Man,  appeared  in  Dodley’s  Miscellanies  in  1748, 
and  the  author  also  translated  The  Immortality  of  the  ooul 
from  the  Latin  of  Isaac  Hawkins  Browne  (1759),  a poem  which  lad 
a great  vogue.  Man  only,  writes  Jenyns,  refuses  to  listen  to  the 
eloquent  voice  of  external  nature,  ignoring  the  Creator *s  will 
and  refusing  obstinately  to  see  that  each  animal  is  here  to  pro- 
mote the  general  good.  But  the  human  race,  though  lord  of  all, 
is  slave  to  vice,  folly,  and  pride. 

*Tis  he  that*s  deaf  to  this  command  alone. 

Delights  in  others  woe,  and  courts  his  own; 

Racks  and  destroys  with  tort* ring  steel  and  flame, 

Eor  lus*ry  brutes,  and  man  himself  for  fame.  (1) 

The  poet  was  interested  only  in  carrying  out  his  ideas  without 

elaborating  extensively  upon  the  conditions  resulting  from  man*s 

ignorance  of  the  great  realities,  and  consequently  he  is  content 

merely  to  state  his  illustration  without  discussing  it  at  great 


(1)  An  Essay  on  V irtue . Chalmers,  vol.  17 


-64- 


length  as  did  Thomson,  who  loved  animals  for  their  own  sake  and 
who  probably  would  have  loved  them  even  if  he  had  never  heard  of 
Characteristics . 

Browne  has  a good  deal  more  courage  than  the  majority  of 
ethical  poets,  certainly  more  than  Jenyns.  He  resolutely  tackles 
the  problem  of  evil,  though  he  leaves  it  exactly  as  he  found  it. 

Man  cannot  know,  he  declares,  but  he  will  know  when  the  trump  of 
doom  sounds  and  when  God  explains  all  those  mysteries  in  Nature 
that  reason  has  been  unable  to  pierce.  Browne Ts  system  of  univers- 
al love  was  based  on  the  social  institutions  he  knew.  He  recogniz- 
ed the  brotherhood  of  man;  but  his  cosmopolitanism  was  tempered 
by  his  patriotism,  and  unlike  the  radical  of  the  last  years  of  the 
century,  he  places  nationality  before  world  fraternity.  ?or 
Isaac  Hawkins  Browne,  Brittania  was  still  ruling  the  waves. 

the  patriots  soul 

Knows  not  self-centr*d  for  itself  to  roll. 

But  warms,  enlightens,  animates  the  whole; 

Its  mighty  orb  embraces  first  his  friends. 

His  country  next,  then  man,  nor  here  it  ends, 

But  to  the  meanest  animal  descends.  (l) 

These  early  preachers  of  the  doctrine  of  benevolence 

show  very  clearly  how  poetic  taste  was  changing.  Jenyns  with 

his  neo-classic  diction  and  his  heroic  couplets  is.  distinctly  a 

follower.  So  is  Browne,  and  Brooke,  too,  shows  little  originality. 


(1)  Immortality  of  the  Soul,  Book  II,  Chalmers,  vol  17,  p 65£ 


-65- 


Yet  the  nark  of  the  sentimental  school  is  upon  them,  bince  they 
are  all  deists,  they  value  rationalism  highly,  but  they  value 
feeling  more  highly.  The  same  spirit  of  benevolence  which  man- 
ifests itself  in  them  appears  again  and  again  until  the  end  of 
the  century,  sometimes  accompanying  deism  and  sometimes  with  all 
traces  of  early  rationalism  lost  in  a direct  appeal  to  the  heart. 

The  greatest  exponent  of  Shaftesbury 1 s doctrines,  un- 
relieved by  any  original  thought,  is  Mark  Akenside,  whose 
Pleasures  of  the  Imagination  (1744-77)  is  little  more  than  a blank 
verse  rendition  of  the  Characteristics . In  the  second  book 
"sovran  good"  is  his  theme.  God  has  given  man  a sphere  of  in- 
fluence to  which  he  bears  the  same  relation  as  the  deity  does 
to  the  whole.  In  this  area  man  is  supreme;  within  its  juris- 
diction the  human  heart,  filled  with  radiant  love  for  all,  has 
an  infinite  capacity  for  wishing  well.  Whoever  doubts  this, 
says  Akenside,  surely  1ms  never  stood  by  the  ocean  when  a.  ship 
lies  aground  in  a dangerous  sea  and  has  surely  never  observed 
the  distress  of  those  ashore  as  they  watch  with  vicarious  agony 
the  straggles  of  the  endangered  ones  "while  holy  Pity  melts  the 
general  eye".  (1)  Universal  brotherhood  in  the  God  of 

(1)  Pleasures  of  the  Imagination,  book  £,  p 91,  Chalmers,  vol  14. 
Crabbe  has  quite  a different  picture  of  the  erstwhile  humanitarian 
longshoremen  who 

Wait  on  the  shore,  and,  as  the  waves  run  high. 

On  thetaxt  vessel  bend  their  eager  eye, 

Which  to'  the  coast  directs  its  vent’rous  way: 

Theirs,  or  the  oceans,  miserable  prey.  The  Village,  bool 
Crabbe  in  his  realism  faces  the  actual,  vh  ich  the  sentimental 
deists  liked  to  pass  over  lightly  or  to  ignore  completely. 


1: 


, 


66 


nature  is  the  dear  gift  of  all  our  race,  regardless  of  the  stings 
of  a capricious  Fortune,  for  there  is  in  sorrow  a kind  of  mob  sym- 
pathy which  brings  the  human  kind  together.  The  prime  mover  is  the 
altruistic  Deity,  who  bends  lovingly  over  the  world  and  guides 
it  along  according  to  a philosophic  system  in  which  the  problem 
of  evil  seldom  bothers.  Akenside  is  not  particularly  interested 
in  turning  over  his  finely  wrought  tapestry  to  see  the  reverse 
of  this  philanthropic  design.  He  knows  only  that  somewhere  there 
is  a God,  who  somehow  guides  us  aright.  His  is  an  anemic  philosophy 
which  does  not  look  at  the  facts,  lest  it  find  among  them  something 
which  will  mutilate  this  sickly,  sentimental  offspring  of  reason 
and  unreason. 

The  same  paternal  hand. 

From  the  mute  shell-fish  gasping  on  the  shore, 

To  men,  to  angels,  to  celestial  minds. 

Will  ever  lead  the  generations  on 
Through  higher  scenes  of  being.  (1) 

The  later  writers  of  the  century  still  retain  the  idea 
of  GodTs  gentleness,  but  the  rationalizing  element  in  the  con- 
ception sometimes  disappears.  Goldsmith*s  Edwin  is  a vegetarian, 
who  brings  a "guiltless  feast"  of  herbs  and  fruits  from  the 
mountains  , and  who  lives  at  peace  with  nature  and  man,  because 
he  preys  on  nothing.  He  has  been  taught  by  the  infinite  pity 
of  God  to  pity  those  about  him.  This  perhaps  is  a deistic  lesson, 
though  the  poem  (2)  develops  no  very  extended  philosophic  system. 

In  Hhe  Mysteries  of  Udolpho  the  theme  of  benevolence  is  also 


(1)  PI  ensures  of  the  Imagination,  book  2,  p 88,  Chalmers  14 

(2)  The  Hermit~TlV66) 


-67 


present,  but  Shaftesbury^  system  is  superseded  by  an  erratic, 

but  still  sentimental,  pantheism.  M.  St*  Aubert  and  krnily, 

who  have  been  pursuing  their  journey  across  France  with  many 

pauses  for  tears,  but  few  for  lunch,  linger  in  the  solitudes 

and  "indulge  in  sublime  reflections,  which  soften,  while  they 

elevate  the  lie  art  and  fill  it  with  the  certainty  of  a present 

GodI  " (1)  GoleridgeTs  Ancient  Mariner  (1798)  shows  no  trace 

of  this  gentle  ineffectiveness,  but  the  plot  does  turn  on  the 

theme  of  universal  benevolence.  The  mariner  lias  lain  for  days 

in  stupefaction  and  watches  the  living,  crawling  sea,  when 

suddenly  the  great  change  occurs  and  the  spell  is  broken. 

0 happy  living  things J no  tongue 
Their  beauty  might  declare; 

A spring  of  love  gushed  from  my  heart. 

And  I blessed  them  unaware. 

The  self-same  moment  I could  pray; 

An&  from  my  neck  so  free 

The  albatross  fell  off  and  sank 

Like  lead  into  the  sea.  (2) 

And  in  the  moral  of  the  tale  we  are  given  the  famous  preachment 
that  he  who  prays  best  loves  beat,  because  the  "dear  God  who 
loveth  us"  made  all  creatures  and  loves  them.  It  is  the  super- 
natural element  here  that  would  preclude  any  relationship  between 

£1 ) Mysterie  s o f Udolpho . (17£4) 

(2)  Anc i ent  mariner . L 282  ff 


0 ■ f 


C 


l 


r 


-68- 


Go  le  ridge  a nd  the  ethical  poets  of  the  Shaftesbury  school. 

The  influence  of  the  benevolent  theory,  so  prevalent  throughout 
the  century,  is  present,  whether  it  be  there  because  of  con- 
scious effort  on  the  part  of  the  poet  or  not.  The  theme  belongs 
not  to  the  deists  only.  It  permeated  almost  the  whole  of  eight- 
eenth century  literature. 

3. 

The  arguments  advanced  during  the  century  for  increased 
sensibility  in  man1 s relations  with  animals  were  proved  in  a 
variety  of  ways,  but,  as  is  to  be  expected,  most  of  the  poets 
and  novelists  were  inclined  to  prove  their  theses  by  an  appeal 
to  heart  instead  of  to  head.  To  the  majority,  man  appeared  as 
the  benevolent  dictator,  or,  as  some  of  the  extremists  insisted, 
as  a hind  of  demi-god  with  derived  powers  from  the  Omnipotent  One. 
The  great  duty  was  that  man,  the  stronger,  should  protect  and  love 
the  weaker  creatures  which  were  not  endowed  as  was  the  monarch 
of  the  earth.  Hone  before  the  advent  of  Cowper  carried  humanitar- 
ianism  to  his  extremes,  who  scarcely  differentiated  between  his 
affections  for  his  pets  and  those  for  the  human  species:  or  of 

Blake,  whose  attitude  will  be  described  later. 

To  Thomson,  the  greatest  influence  among  the  early 
eighteenth  century  humanitarians,  should  go  the  credit  of  inaugurat- 
ing the  new  poetic  movement.  Though  Lady  Winchilsea  had  observed 


-69- 


the  life  about  her  closely,  she  had  confined  her  attention  to  the 
inmates  of  her  mansion  park  in  Kent.  Though  Gay  had  been  the 
champion  of  the  abused  hackney,  his  interests  were  largely  urban, 
and  he  had  little  opportunity  to  broaden  his  humanitarian  ideas. 

But  Thomson’s  sensibility,  like  his  observation,  was  more  cath- 
olic, principally  because  he  knew  genuinely  wild  country  in  the 
Scottish  home  of  his  boyhood,  and  because  he  was  able  to  .justify 
himself  philosophically  by  allying  himself  with  the  rhapsodic 
followers  of  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  during  his  life  he  preached 
vegetarianism,  but  he  did  not  carry  out  his  theories  assiduously; 
certainly  he  did  not  go  so  far  in  his  advocacy  as  Ritson  or  even 
as  Shelley.  Thomson  came  down  to  London  in  1725  with  the  manu- 
script of  Winter,  published  the  following  year,  and  by  1750  the 
completed  Seasons  was  in  the  hands  of  the  booksellers. 

In  the  "glad  creation",  writes  Thomson,  man  walks  super- 
ior ( 1 ), but  too  often  he  becomes  a tyrant  who  mistreats  both  his 
own  kind  and  the  beasts.  Unmindful  of  divine  example,  he  reckless- 
ly persecutes  his  fellows  by  imprisoning  them  in  filthy  jails  (2) 
and  wreaks  his  savage  pleasure  on  all  living  things.  Since  he  is 
the  lord  of  creation,  it  naturally  follows  that  he  should  act  the 
part  of  benevolent  guardian  to  all  the  earth.  The  golden  age, 
when  men  were  kindly  and  friendly,  has  passed  away,  because  their 
debased  spirit  disturbs  the  ordinary  course  of  nature. 


(1)  Spring . 1 170  ff 


(2)  Winter.  1 559  ff 


-70- 


William  Somerville  followed  closely  the  philosophic 
tradition  of  the  sentimental  deists  and  shows  unmistakable  signs 
of  having  written  -under  the  influence  of  the  fashion  set  by 
Thomson.  The  Chase  fl7S5)  has  passages  of  considerable  descriptive 
power  and  vigor;  and  in  this  poem,  written  in  blank  verse,  he 
finds  it  necessary  to  explain,  after  the  manner  of  the  newly  aris- 
ing school,  the  exact  relationship  betwe  n the  human  race  and  the 
lower  species.  Somerville,  despite  his  deistic  leanings , is  hard 

put  to  explain  how  man  has  become  a predatory  animal man  who 

formerly  load  been  lord  of  the  earth  and  vho  had  ruled  in  gentle- 
ness. He  therefore  compromises. 

Devotion  pure, 

And  strong  necessity,  thus  first  began 
The  chase  of  beasts  (1) 

The  huqisn  race  was  forced  to  abandon  the  peace  of  nature  because 
it  did  not  have  enough  food  and  because  God  demanded  animal  sac- 
rifices. The  first  reason  given  is  a rational  one;  the  second 
must  be  justified  by  the  revelatory  book  of  Genesis.  God  has 
given  nan  the  right  to  hunt  other  living  creatures  for  food  and 
has  made  him  overlord  of  the  world;  but,  nevertheless,  hunting 
the  ,Ttimlrous  bare"  is  a "vile  offense",  since  he  is  no  match  for 
the  whooping  riders  and  baying  dogs. 

(1)  The  Chase.  Chalmers,  vol  11,  p 155 


-71- 


There  are  other  points  of  view,  however,  of  the  relation 
of  man  and  the  lower  species  in  which  man  does  not  play  so  dom- 
inant a role.  Though  the  poets  who  were  trying  to  effect  a com- 
promise between  traditional  belief  and  new  thought  were  sincere 
preachers  of  humaa itarianism , they  fought  hard  to  retain  man  in 
their  system  as  the  chosen  of  God.  But  Vincent  Bourne,  the  lazy 
dreamer  of  Westminster  school,  the  teacher  of  William  Cowper, 
ignores  the  philosophic  problem  entirely  and  lavishes  on  animal 
life  a sympathy  unjustified  by  a rationalized  system,  and  he 
carries  his  ideas  of  a democratic  universe  far  beyond  the  other 
men  of  his  time.  Though  he  wrote  but  one  thin  volume  of  verse, 
and  that  in  Latin  (1754) , his  influence  must  have  been  profound 
on  Gowper,  who  translated  his  poems  and  carried  on  his  doctrine 
of  sentimental  communism.  Bourne's  work  shows  an  external  re- 
semblance to  the  fables  of  an  earlier  generation,  as  if  he  had  used 
a classic  model  which  he  quickly  set  aside.  Borne  of  his  versified 
stories,  such  as  A Tale . exist  only  for  the  moral;  but,  like  Lady 
V/inchilsea,  he  enlivens  his  didacticism  with  a sprightly  humor 
and  joyous  sympathy. 

According  to  Vinnie  Bourne,  there  must  exist  between  the 
human  race  and  beasts  a spirit  of  mutual  toleration  and  re- 
ciprocity. This  idea  appears  in  his  pretty  little  poem,  To  a 
Gri cket ; a fair  exchange  is  no  robbery. 


i 


-72- 


Pay  me  for  they  warm  retreat 
With  a song  more  soft  and  sweet; 

In  return  thou  shalt  receive 
Such  a strain  as  I can  give.  (1) 

And,  again,  from  the  very  nature  of  his  title  for  the  story  of 

Androcles,  Reciprocal  kindness  the  Primary  Lav/  of  Uature , Bourne 

explains  his  idea  of  a gentle  and  tolerant  society.  Why  should 

the  Romans  wonder  at  seeing  the  erstv/hile  peevish  lion  purring 

ingratiatingly  Before  the  considerably  agitated  Androcles? 

All  this  is  natural;  nature  bade  him  rend 
An  enemy,  she  bids  him  spare  a friend. 

When  small  Lydia  is  scratched  by  a kitten  (2),  the  poet  explains 

away  the  pet’s  venial  sin  in  a spirit  of  reciprocal  sportsmanship. 

If  one  must  play  with  a cat,  one  should  be  willing  to  bear  the 

animal’s  jests  in  return. 

In  1776  the  doctrine  of  Rousseau  begins  to  manifest 
itself  in  those  writings  which  stress  the  need  of  a greater  kind- 
ness to  the  brute  creation.  Humphrey  Primatt  wrote  a whole  book 
it)  about  the  natural  rights  of  the  lower  animals.  There  is  a 
duty  incumbent  upon  man  to  treat  kindly  the  other  occupants  of  the 
world,  which  was  not  made  for  his  happiness  only.  In  fact,  beasts 
have  a greater  right  to  happiness  in  this  world  than  the  human 
race  has,  because  they  w ill  not  share  in  the  bliSs  of  the  hereafter. 

(1)  This  is  Cowper’s  translation  and  appears  in  practically  all 
editions  of  his  work. 

(2)  familiarity  Dangerous . 

( f ) A Dissertation  on  the  Duty  of  Mercy  and  Sin  of  Cruelty  to 
Brute  inimals . London,  1776. 


-73- 


They  have  no  souls,  (l)  Now  there  are  certain  natural  rights 
given  to  living  things,  writes  Primatt,  of  which  none  has  the 
privilege  of  depriving  another,  livery  living  thing  is  entitled  to 
present  happiness.  In  addition  to  his  right  to  happiness,  man  has 
been  given,  as  gifts,  his  reason,  his  immortality,  and  his  do- 
minion over  the  wo  rid • Here  below  all  sentient  creatures  "sub- 
sist together  as  the  joint  and  temporary  tenants  of  the  earth, 
alike  as  to  passion,  sense,  and  appetite."  (2)  There  is  constant 
argument  on  the  part  of  the  author  from  an  assumption  in  "the 
reasonable  and  equitable  claims  of  brutes" .(3 )Primatt , of  course, 
is  chiefly  interested  in  humanitarianism  as  applied  to  animals, 
but  after  establishing  his  thesis  to  his  own  satisfaction  he 
applies  the  same  method  of  reasoning  to  the  problem  of  negro 
slavery,  as  Pay  did  when  he  wrote  to  the  American  planter  his 
Housseaui sti c opinions  on  slavery.  Therefore,  it  is  apparent  that 
the  favorite  topic  of  conversation  and  polemic  in  the  Europe  of  the 
late  eighteenth  century,  the  natural  rights  of  man,  eventually 
was  utilized  by  the  extreme  human itarians , who  proceeded  to  dis- 
cuss the  natural  rights  of  sentient  creatures. 

( 1 ) A Bissertation  on  the  Puty  of  IJercy  and  the  Sin  of  Cruelty  to 
Brut  e Animals . 

( 2 ) This  assertion  is  particularly  interesting  if  compared  with 
Blake1 2 3 s ideas  of  a hereafter,  in  which  animal  life  plays  a very 
important  part. 

(3)  Ibid,  p 106 


* 


— 


* 


I 


-74- 


It  has  been  impossible  in  this  paper  to  discuss 
chronologically  the  growth  of  ideas  regarding  the  relationship 
of  human  beings  with  animals,  because  the  century  presents  no 
orderly  scheme  of  development.  The  conception  of  a benevolent 
deity  appears  again  and  again  long'  after  Rousseauism  had  gi  en 
writers  a new  ar  ument  against  cruelty.  Vincent  Bourne  is 
distinctly  ahead  of  his  time  with  his  ideas  of  universal  re- 
ciprocity. These  theories  of  man’s  relation  with  the  brutes 
show  , however,  that  humanitari ani sra  a pears  in  company  with 
many  distinctly  different  groups  of  ideas.  It  is  not  the 
property,  therefore,  of  any  one  group  of  thinkers.  It  belonged 
to  many  poets  and  prose  writers  who  had  little  besides  their 
humanitarianism  in  common.  Just  as  the  antipathy  to  the  slave 
trade  did  not  remain  the  exclusive  property  of  any  religious 
group,  so  this  antipathy  to  other  forms:  of  cruelty  became  a pretty 
general  doctrine.  Many  schools  were  agreed  on  the  one  point  of 
keenly  appreciating  snnsibility  — - a word  and  an  emotion  which 
characterize  so  well  the  eighteenth  century  temper.  (1) 

4. 

In  the  foregoing  discussion  of  humanitarianism  as  applied 

(1)  Ritson  wrote  a treatise  on  vegetarianism  which  has  not  been  in- 
cluded in  this  discussion,  because  it  adds  no  tiling  new  to  the  growth 
of  ideas  and  because  his  practical  influence  in  the  humanitarian 
movement  was  not  great.  His  sanity,  when  he  wrote  An  Hssay  on  Ab- 
stinence from  Animal  Rood , lias  been  questioned. 


-75- 


to  animals  I have  shorn  how  the  writers,  particularly  the  poets, 
began  to  manifest  an  aversion  to  cruelty  of  all  kinds  and  how  they 
sought  to  justify  themselves  philosophically.  The  real  test  of 
sincerity,  however,  is  not  to  be  found  in  glittering  generalities. 

If  a writer  becomes  specific  and  if  in  his  desire  for  reform  he 
attacks  institutions  generally  favored  by  society,  then  his  honesty 
cannot  be  doubted. 

To  the  average  Briton  hunting  lias  been  and  still  is  as 
sacred  an  institution  as  the  Common  La w or  the  Bui  of  Rights  or 
hot  cross  buns  on  Bood  Friday,  an  institution  which  should  be 
preserved,  despite  the  steady  march  of  events,  the  increasing  dense- 
ness of  population,  and  the  independence  of  yeoman  who  no  longer 
submit  tamely  to  domination  by  some  noisy  country  squire.  The 
literature  of  the  hunt  in  all  ages  has  been  voluminous,  and  in  the 
eighteenth  century  still  a favorite  subject  for  poets,  who  dwelt 
with  pleasure  on  the  smiling  landscape,  the  howling  sportsmen, 
and  the  whooping  hunters.  It  was  a sport  for  kings  and  certainly 
a sport  for  the  red-blooded  English,  the  conquerors  of  the  world. 

But  when  The  Seasons  appeared,  it  contained  a new  point  of  view. 

The  poet  described  the  hunt  not  as  the  scarlet-coated  horsemen  saw 
it  but  as  the  pursued  saw  it,  and  with  a new  conception  of  justice 
he  scorned  the  hitherto  glorious  sport  which  brought  out  a pack 

of  hounds,  a score  of  rural  aristocrats,  and  a throng-  of  spectators 
to  see  a hare  run  to  cover  and  finally  killed.  The  poets  from 


; 


i 


! 


, 


, 


- 


c 


, 


T 


' 


-76- 


Thomson’s  first  publication  to  the  end  of  the  century  treat  the 
hunt  in  various  ways;  but  most  of  them  condemn  certain  aspects  of 
the  chase,  and  others  are  obviously  on  the  defensive,  as  if  they 
were  not  quite  sure  of  their  ground. 

There  are  two  characteristic s worthy  of  notice  in  the 
poetry  of  the  hunt;  first,  the  efforts  of  the  apologists  to  de- 
fend British  sport;  second,  the  tendency  of  poets  in  the 
opposite  camp  gradually  to  extend  their  sympathies,  first  to  the 
hare  and  deer  and  afterward  to  all  living  creatures. 

When  Thomson  describes  the  rural  scene  in  Autumn . he, 
of  course,  devotes  some  attention  to  the  rural  sports  of  that 
season.  In  1713,  thirteen  years  before  the  Scottish  poet  had 
come  to  London,  Pope  had  published  his  Windsor  forest  and  Gay  his 
Rural  Sports ; the  one  with  a spirited  reproof  of  the  evil  men 
do  by  teaching  beasts  to  pursue  their  fellows,  the  other  em- 
phasizing the  zest  fcf  the  chase  with  a few  lines  of  sympathy  for 
the  hare.  But  Pope,  when  he  says 

, Beasts,  urg’d  by  men,  their  fellow  beasts  pursue. 

And  learn  of  men  each  other  to  undo, 

did  not  have  his  eye  upon  the  suffering  animal.  Like  a true 
neo-classicist  he  was  adorning  his  poem  with  a moral;  and  his  real 
purpose  is  to  point  out  man’s  shortcomings,  not  to  attach  a system 
which  would  appeal  so  strongly  to  his  splendor -loving  heart.  Gay 
too,  though  his  love  for  country  was  stronger  than  that  of  his 
age  in  general,  is  filled  only  v/ith  a passing  pity. 


-77- 


Thomson,  however,  sounds  the  new  note.  In  his  philosophic 

system  there  is  no  place  for  such  institutions  as  the  hunt.  His 

tender,  ease-loving  heart  revolted  at  the  system  of  taking  lives 

for  tribute  in  a morning’s  heedless  pleasure.  To  state  flatly 

at  that  period  that  he  disapproved  of  the  chase  must  have  taken 

courage,  since  he  was  quite  likely  to  he  looked  upon  as  either 

a crank  or  a fool,  The  fact  that  he  spoke  out  plainly  proves 

him  not  to  have  been  an  entirely  sedentary  sentimentalist. 

Poor  is  the  triumph  o’er  the  timid  hare! 

Scar’d  from  the  corn,  and  now  to  some  loan  seat 
Retir’d;  the  rushy  fen;  the  ragged  furze 
Stretch’d  o'er  the  stony  heath (1) 

This  is  a glorious  arid  sportsmanlike  performance!  he  indignantly 

adds.  One  snail  animal,  never  very  brave  and  absolutely  harmless, 

is  run  to  death  without  the  slightest  chance  of  escape  in  such  an 

une  qua 1 c omb  at • 

The  pack  full -opening  various;  the  shrill  horn 
Resounded  from  the  hills;  the  neighing  steed, 

Wild  from  the  chase;  and  the  loud  hunter's  shout; 

O'er  a weak,  harmless,  flying  creature,  all 
Mix’d  in  mad  tumult,  and  discordant  joy.  (2) 

The  deer,  too,  finds  a defender  in  Thomson,  who  speaks  again  of  his 

stand  at  bay  with  the  pack,  "blood-happy” . tearing  at  his  heart. 


(1)  Autumn.  1 405  ff 

(2)  Ibid,  1 421  ff. 


-78- 


If,  however,  the  Englishmen  must  give  up  simple  destruction 
ns  a means  of  fighting  off  rural  ennui,  Thomson  is  quite  willing 
that  they  should  continue  their  sport,  hut  they  should  pursue  only 
the  anii-social  members  of  rural  society.  There  are  lions  to  be 
chased,  which  do  not  cringe  before  the  spears  of  a "coward  band". 
There  are  wild  boars  and  wolves  which  do  not  fear  to  fight.  Ever 
if  there  are  no  wild  boars  or  lions  in  England  , there  is  still 
the  fox. 

give,  ye  Britons,  then 

Your  sportive  fury,  pitiless  to  pour 

Loose  on  the  nightly  robber  of  the  fold.  (1) 

In  Thomsons  ideal  world,  even  the  dogs  and  cats  have  be- 
come pacific.  The  house-dog  and  the  greyhound  lie  side  by  side, 
dozing  luxuriously  in  hie  manner  the  poet  knows  so  well  how  to 
describe.  Instead  of  dreaming  of  c&nine  joys  such  as  the  pur- 
suit of  a rabbit  or  at  least  a cat,  one  attacks  the  nightly  thief, 
and  the  other  "exults  o’er  hill  and  dale"  with  no  particular  object, 
so  far  as  Thomson  is  concerned,  for  his  exhilaration.  (2)  And 
Lizy,  when  she  says  farewell  to  her  cat,  remarks  upon  that  tender- 
hearted creature’s  abstemiousness  from  earthly  pleasures. 

Joy  of  my  youth!  that  oft  lias  licked  my  hands 

With  velvet  tongue  ne’er  stained  by  mouse’s  blood.  (3) 

Like  Thomson,  Somerville  is  interested  primarily  in  the 
higher  animals,  but  he  manifests  in  The  Chase  ?1755),  the  next 

(1)  Ibid,  L 470  ff 

(2)  Summer , L 232  ff 

(3)  Lizy 1 s .Parting  with  Her  Cat 


' 


-79- 


important  hunting  poem  after  Autumn,  that  an  apologist  for  the 
sport  is  necessary,  Somerville's  poem  belongs  to  that  group 
which  marks  the  revival  of  interest  in  blank  verse  and  a demand 
for  almost  pure  description.  That  there  is  evil  in  the  system, 

Somerville  admits;  but  if  man  were  not  permitted  to  kill  

and  God  has  given  him  this  permission  ---,  the  world  would  soon 
be  so  overcrowded  that  there  would  not  be  room  for  all.  The 
brute  creation  is  man's  property,  it  is  true  , but  he  should  de- 
vote his  whole  attention  to  exterminating:  only  the  unsocial 
animals  and  to  keeping  down  the  population.  The  hare  and  the  deer 
are  harmless.  They  should  not  be  molested.  Only  murderers 
would  enjoy  killing  such  gentle  creatures.  (l)  But,  on  the 
who  1b,  he  kills  those  that  are  harmful  and  preserves  those  v/hich 
are  useful.  When  Somerville  talks  of  useful  animals,  of  course, 
he  means  those  which  make  the  world  more  comfortable  for  man  to 
live  in.  This  poet  is  no  philosopher,  and  he  is  forced  from 
time  to  time  to  justify  Ms  thesis  from  such  incompatible  sources 
as  Hebrew  revelation  and  sentimental  deism.  His  significance 
in  this  discussion  of  the  hunt  lies  in  his  apologetic  tone  as  he 
follows  in  the  footsteps  of  Thomson.  It  never  occurred  to  a|iy  cf 
the  older  poets  that  an  apology  was  necessary.  Brooke,  too,  has 
a similar  point  of  view  in  The  kox  Chase . He  reviews  minutely 


(1)  The  Chase.  Chalmers,  vol.  11,  p 156 


-80- 


the  crimes  of  the  fox  and  then  proceeds  cheerfully  to  describe 
the  kill*  He  explains,  however,  that  the  sport  is  justified  be- 
cause of  the  foxTs  crimes  against  society. 

From  his  Virgilian  retreat  at  the  Leasowes  comes  Shenstone ’s 
Rural  Elegance  in  1750,  in  praise  of  country  life.  It  is  a de- 
scriptive poem  in  manner  much  like  The  Seasons  and  The  Chase , but 
it  goes  further  than  eifher  of  them  in  its  attack  on  hunting, 
llature  does  not"smooth  her  lawns"  for  the  "rural  thane"  who 
goes  whooping  across  country  after  the  by  this  time  well-known 
timorous  hare.  Shenstone  includes  in  his  sympathies  the  peasant 
as  well  as  the  defenseless  animals.  (1) 

Ye  rural  Thanes!  that  o’er  the  mossy  down 
Some  panting  timorous  hare  pursue, 

Does  nature  mean  your  joys  to  crown? 

Say,  does  she  smooth  her  lawns  for  you? 

Dor  you  does  Echo  bid  the  rocks  reply, 

And  urged  by  rude  constraint,  resound  the  jovial  cry? 

See  from  the  neighboring  hill,  forlorn. 

The  wretched  swain  your  sport  survey; 

He  finds  his  faithful  fences  torn. 

He  finds  his  labour’d  crops  a prey; 

He  sees  his  flocks  no  more  in  circles  feed. 

Haply  beneath  your  ravage  bleed. 

And  with  no  random  curses  load  the  deed.  (2) 

Shenstone  makes  no  provision  for  hunting  even  the  anti-social 
animals.  His  inclusion  of  "the  wretched  swain"  in  his  pity  is 
good  Whig  doctrine,  for  that  party  during  the  century  had  been  at- 
tacking the  system  of  game  preserves  with  a good  deal  of  vigor.  (5) 


(1)  Rural  Elegancy . II  (2)  Rural  Elegance 

( 5)  England  under  the  Stuarts,  p 8,  p 472 


c 


T 


T 


t 


-81- 


Between  1730,  then,  and  1750  the  humanitarian  movement 
liad  developed  by  utilizing  various  philosophies.  The  love  for  ex- 
ternal nature  had  become  increasingly  apparent  in  poetry,  but 
the  application  of  theory  to  practice,  so  far  as  the  hunt  was 
concerned,  did  not  yet  include  any  but  the  higher  animals.  It 
remained  for  Blake,  Cowper,  and  Erasmus  Darwin  to  carry  eighteenth 
century  sensibility  to  its  highest  point. 

In  the  meantime,  there  is  a cons  icuous  lack  of  sympathy 
for  cold-blooded  animals.  fishes  were  not  included  In  the  game 
preserves  of  the  sentimentalists.  Gay  had  urged  that  they  be  pro- 
tected and.  that  otters  be  killed  because  they  spoiled  the  fishixg  . 
Thomson  objected  to  the  unsportsmanlike  custom  of  hunting  the 
higher  animals,  but  describes  the  chase  of  the  mischievous  fox 
with  much  delight.  When  it  came  to  fishing,  his  heart  beat 
tenderly  for  the  worm,  but  quickened  not  a beat  for  the  fish  on 
the  hook.  There  seems  to  be  no  esoteric  explanation  for  not  in- 
cluding fishermen  in  the  numerous  attacks  on  rural  sports;  yet 
the  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  Nobody  ever  seems  to  get  up  a 
very  lively  affection  for  a gold  fish  . They  are  such  impersonal 
and  characterless  creatures.  That  seems  to  be  the  only  explana- 
tion for  their  exclusion  from  the  rapidly  widening  sympathies  of 

the  sentimental  wr iters. 

Thomson1 s knowledge  of  fishing  is  too  accurate  to  be  light- 
ly passed  over,  particularly  since  his' wrath  at  the  hunter  had 


-82- 


been  so  unequivocally  stated.  When  the  first  freshets  begin  to 

ebb,  he  writes,  get  out  the  rod,  line,  and  fly,  and  "issuing 

cheerful,  to  thy  sports  prepare".  The  poet  knows  exactly  where 

to  cast  and  where  the  trout  vail  be  waiting. 

Then  fix,  with  gentle  twitch,  the  barbed  hook; 

Some  lightly  tossing  to  the  grassy  bank, 

And  to  the  shelving  shore  slow  dragging  some, 

With  various  hand  proportioned  to  their  force  ...  (1) 

The  young  fishes  may  be  thrown  back  with  fitting  compassion  for 

the  "speckled  infant".  But  if  a real  game  trout  seizes  the  fly, 

then  the  sportsman  must  play  him  with  the  utmost  skill. 

• .....At  once  he  darts  along. 

Deep-struck,  and  runs  out  all  the  lengthened  line; 

Then  seeks  the  farthest  ooze,  the  she  It* ring  weed. 

The  covered  bank,  his  old  secure  abode; 

And  flies  aloft,  and  flounces  round  the  pool, 

Indignant  of  the  guile  (2) 

William  Junius  Mickle Ts  poem.  The  Concubine  (1767),  is 
the  only  one  I have  discovered  in  all  the  poetry  of  the  century 
which  treats  the  fish  with  any  sympathy  at  all,  and  he  introduces 
it  incidentally.  He  is  comparing  his  knight  to  a fish,  and  his 
description  is  similar  to  that  of  Pope  in  Windsor  forest,  where 
Pope  speaks  of  the  dying  pheasant.  The  very  fact  that  he  intro- 
duces the  trout  in  a simile  and  disposes  of  it  in  six  lines  em- 
phasizes its  unimportance.  (3) 

Toward  the  end  of  the  century,  however,  the  fisli,  too,  was 
accepted  into  the  great  kinship  by  Mrs.  Radcliffe's  character. 


(1)  Spring,  li  413,  ff 
02)  Ibid,  L 436  ff 

(3)  Poems  and  a Tragedy.  William  Junius  Mickle,  Sir  .lartyn 


* 

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-83' 


M.  St«  Aubert,  who,  after  his  wife's  death  load  prostrated  him, 
began  to  recover  slowly  and  visited  first  in  his  convalescence 
his  favorite  fishing- house . But  it  really  was  not  a fishing- 
house.  "A  basket  of  provisions  was  sent  thither,  with  books 
and  Emily's  lute;  for  fishing  tacki  he  had  no  use,  for  he  never 
could  find  amusement  in  torturing  or  destroying."  (1) 

5. 

Though  the  attack  on  the  institution  of  hunting  was  the 
first  and  almost  the  only  exa&ple  of  a practical  application  of 
humanitarianism  in  the  century,  so  far  as  animals  were  concerned, 
the  democratising  tendency  was  manifest.  Sympathies  were  widen- 
ing. Cibber  and  Steele  championed  the  oppressed  but  faithful 
wife.  Addison  championed  the  abused  dog  which  went  beneath  the 
vivisectionist * s knife.  Cay  championed  the  horse.  Then  Thomson 
widened  the  field  of  sensibility  and  championed  the  hare,  the 
deer,  cattle,  birds,  and  even  the  worm. 

When  he  describes  the  merry  sport  of  casting  for  trout, 
he  warns  against  the  use  of  the  "tortur'd  worm",  which  twists 
convulsively  but  uncomplainingly  on  the  hook.  Birds  are  to  be 
treated  tenderly.  They  should  neither  be  killed  nor  put  in  cages, 

(1)  Hysteries  of  Udolpho . p 8 


-84- 


and  he  describes  v/ith  characteristic  pity  how  the  female  returns 
to  her  nest  to  find  it  robbed  by  "the  hard  hand  of  unrelenting 
clowns".  Thomson  was  probably  more  fond  of  birds  than  of  any 
other  animal,  for  they  appear  in  The  Seasons  with  great  frequency* 
He  appreciates  the  finesse  of  the  "aerial  courtship"  as  if  he 
had  watched  it  closely.  He  likes  to  dwell  upon  the  fledgling's 
first  attempt  at  flying.  He  enjoys  the  annual  visit  in  winter- 
time of  the  redbreast  which  pays  its  annual  visit  to  man  and  is 
rewarded  v/ith  food.  He  is  filled  with  love  for  the  cattle  which 
return  from  the  snow-covered  fields. 

"And  ask,  with  meaning  low,  their  wonted  stalls." 

He  urges  the  shepherds  to  be  gentle  and  kind  to  their  charges. 
Thomson's  humanitarianism,  however,  lacks  the  leaven  of  sound 
sense  and  humor,  without  which  sensibility  generally  becomes  the 
most  fulsome  bathos.  Though  Cowper  carries  his  love  of  the  species 
much  further  than  any  poet  before  him,  he  is  saved  from  a 
sicklied  sentiment  by  the  very  fact  that,  instead  of  treating 
all  living  creatures  in  groups,  he  appreciates  their  individuality 
and  forgets  at  times  that  his  poetical  profession  is  to  be  kind. 

His  sentimentalism  is  not  self-conscious. 

This  point  of  view  held  by  Cowper  is  similar  to  that  of 
Vincent  Bourne,  whom  he  knew  at  Westminster  school.  Bourne's 
sympathies  were  limited,  because  he  spent  most  of  his  life  in 


. 

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-85- 


L onion,  and  so  the  animals  that  came  beneath  his  notice  are  the 
ones  to  be  found  in  a metropolitan  area.  His  birds  have  an  in- 
dividuality of  their  own.  He  does  not  treat  them  collectively, 
arid  he  includes  in  his  society  even  the  glow-worm. 

Perhaps  indulgent  Nature  meant. 

By  such  a lamp  bestow'd 
To  bid  the  traveller  as  he  went 
Be  careful  where  he  trod; 

Nor  crush  a worm,  whose  useful  light 
Might  serve,  however  small, 

To  show  a stumbling-stone  by  night, 

And  save  him  from  a fall,  (l) 

The  jackdaw,  the  cricket  and  the  parrot  have  almost  as  much 
character  as  Chanticleer  and  Pertelote,  or  the  eagle  which  carried 
Chaucer  to  the  house  of  fame.  The  difference  between  Bourne's 
fables  and  those  which  became  popular  after  the  L 'Estrange 
translations  is  that  Bourne's  animals  are  no  longer  men  in  beast- 
ly shape.  The  Bourne  fables  are  often  moral  in  purpose,  but  he 
never  sacrifices  his  story  because  of  his  didacticism.  His 
tribute  to  the  housefly  shows  clearly  the  fraternal  spirit  in 
which  he  viewed  the  life  about  him. 

Busy,  curious,  thirsty  fly, 

Drink  with  me,  and  drink  as  I; 

Preely  welcome  to  my  cup, 

Couldst  thou  sip  and  sip  it  up, 

Make  the  most  of  life  you  may, 

Life  is  short  and  wears  away. 

Lawrence  oterne's  Uncle  Toby  expresses  the  same  sentiment  twenty- 
six  years  later. 


(l)  The  Glow- Worm.  Cowper ' s translation. 


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-86- 


Shenstone’s  democracy  was  not  quite  so  catholic  as 
Bourne’s,  for  he  could  never  feel  the  proper  fraternal  glow  for 
the  moths  which  got  into  his  wardrobe  and  devoured  his  clothing 
( 1 ) ; hut  he  was  moved  to  rhythmic  eloquence  over  the  hare,  the 
blackbird,  and  the  various  domestic  animals  which  appear  so 
often  in  the  poetry  of  the  period.  Like  Thomson,  he  objected, 
in  a time  when  universal  love  was  becoming  fashionable,  to  the 
robber  of  bird’s  nests.  He  advises  his  friend,  Jago , in  1747, 
to  keep  a bird  or  two  about  the  house  as  pets.  (2) 

In  The  Fleece  (1757)  John  ^yer  includes  the  customary 
councils  to  the  rural  swains  and  advises  them  to  be  gentle  with 
their  "blameless  fellow  creatures”,  particularly  with  sheep, 
since  they  are  the  subjects  of  his  work,  and  he  tells  them  to 


(1)  Progress  of  Taste. 

(2)  He  writes  to  Jago  in  1739  "a  latter  in  the  manner  of  Pamela", 
an  imitation  rather  than  a parody,  telling  him  how  his  housekeeper, 
Mrs.  Arnold,  came  in  to  tell  him  of  some  newly-hatched  chicks  aid.  in 
viting  him  out  to  see  them.  "’Poor  pretty  ere tars  I says  she I look 
here,  Master,  this  has  got  a speck  of  black  upon  her  tail.’  — *Ay, 

I thought  you  weren’t  without  one  about  you,  says  I --  I don’t 
think,  says  I,  Mrs  Arnold,  but  your  soul  was  designed  for  a hen 
originally.  'Why,  and  if  I had  been  a hen,  says  she,  I believe  I 
should  have  done  as  much  for  my  chicks  as  yonder  great . black-and- 
white  hen  does,  tho ' I say’t  that  should  not  say’t,  said  she. 
vo 1 3,  p 5,  Though  written  jokingly  nothing  could  more  adequately 
express  Shenstone’s  own  sentimentalism. 


-87- 


be  like  "Brahma* s Healthy  s ons"  , whose  hands  are  innocent  of  slaughter 


and  who  subsist  happily  on  fruit  and  herbs.  (1)  The  man  who 


kills  them  for  food  is  a glutton,  And 

Ev*n  to  the  reptile  every  cruel  deed 

Is  high  impiety.  (2) 

By  1760,  then,  humanitarian  thought  had  broadened  sufficient- 
ly to  include  practically  all  living  things  in  a world  where  man's 
supremacy  was  not  doubted.  He  was  morally  obliged  to  be  a genial 
overlord  on  earth,  the  champion  of  the  helpless  instead  of  the 
leader  in  persecution.  Before  Cowper  and  Blake  the  general  at- 
titude toward  animals  was  one  of  pity.  With  them,  pity  is  trans- 
formed into  fraternal  sympathy.  As  succeeding  sentimentalists 
joined  the  chorus  of  protest  against  the  slave  trade,  they  began 
to  be  more  sensitive  of  the  woes  in  other  species.  The  practical 
reformers  who  attacked  the  slave  trade  profited  at  once  by  the 
humanitarian  agitation  which  load  become  more  eactensdv©.  But  there 

( 1 ) It  is  generally  believed  that  eastern  influence  is  responsible 
for  the  origin  of  eighteenth  century  human! tar ianism  toward  an- 
imals. There  are,  however,  but  few  references  to  eastern  human- 
itarian! sm  and  vegetariani an , and  they  are  generally  incidental 
like  this  one  in  Dyer.  Ritson,  of  course,  uses  the  Brahmans  as 
an  example  when  he  makes  his  attack  on  animal  food;  but  his 
erudition  was  infinitely  greater  than  that  of  the  mass  of  writers, 
and  he  calls  up  examples  from  a variety  of  places  to  pjrove  his 
point • 


(2)  Eleece.  book  2,  vol  9.  p 563 


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-88- 


were  no  practical  reformers  in  the  eighteenth  century  to  make  the 
burden  of  the  lover  animals  lighter.  The  latter  movement  was 
purely  literary.  But  the  literary  influences  were  not  in- 
significant, The  widening  sympathies  of  the  time  encouraged  a 
closer  observation  of  animal  life,  and  this  change  in  attitude 
brought  forth  some  of  the  finest  lyric  poetry  that  the  English 
had  produced  since  the  Renaissance.  Had  there  been  no  interest 
in  nature,  had  there  been  no  reaction  against  intellectualism, 
had  there  been  no  increasing  appreciation  of  human  affections 
and  emotions,  we  might  have  been  spared  some  of  the  treacly 
gabble  of  a Ehenstone,  but  we  might  also  have  lost  some  of  the 
peerless  beauties  of  Wordsworth,  Shelley,  and  Heats, 

6. 

To  show  how  enormous  was  the  progress  in  observation  of 
animal  life  no  more  typical  group  of  poems  can  be  selected  than 
those  which  treat  of  the  skylark.  I have  already  remarked  how 
Thomson  expurgated  even  the  dreams  of  his  dogs,  and  yet  how 
keenly  appreciative  he  was  of  them  as  a species  and  how  well  he 
k new  their  habits.  Cats  received  some  attention  from  eighteenth 
century  poets.  Domestic  fowls  of  all  sorts  were  described  with 
care.  Even  insects  found  a place  in  poetry,  for  the  first 
time  in  English  literary  history,  according  to  Lafcadio  Hearn. 
Before  that  time  little  had  been  said  of  them,  because  the  coldre  ss 


. 


' 


. • • 


-89- 


of  the  British  climate  prevented  the  poets  from  being  very  familiar 
with  them  and  because  the  mediaeval  church  looked  upon  them  as 
mysterious  and  sinister.  (1) 

Though  the  skylark  had  been  a favorite  among  English  poets 
even  in  the  neo-classical  period,  it  was  used  largely  for  the 
purposes  of  simile,  and  there  had  been  practically  no  admiration 
and  certainly  no  keen  observation  of  the  bird.  (2) 

"English  poetry  about  birds,"  writes  Lafcadio  Hearn, 
"represents  a very  large  proportion  of  lyrical  expression  of  the 
very  highest  order.  It  is  emotional  or  meditative  poetry  of  the 
most  complex  kind  at  its  best.  Perhaps  there  i s no  other  subject 
winch  poets  have  treated  in  a higher  end  more  complex  way."  (3) 

But  it  is  obvious  after  examining  the  treatment  of  the  bird  in 
PopeTs  time  that  even  the  "feather'd  tribe"  had  become  sophisticat- 
ed; for  the  skylark  of  Windsor  Eorest  prepared  her  little  notes 


(1)  Lafcadio  Ilesrn,  p 265-9 

(2)  Reynolds,  Treatment  o f Uatur e in  English  Poetry,  p 27.  The 
lark  lias  its  own  established  set  of  applications.  Lryden,  V/aller, 
and  Savage  represent  the  poet  as  a lark  singing  when  the  sun 
shines,  and  Waller  suits  the  figure  to  the  times  by  making  the 
Queen  the  Sun.  Tickel  called  himself  an  artless  lark.  Somerville 
is  a morning  lark.  Wycherly  compares  both  Virgil  and  Pope  to 
larks.  Any  fair  one  lias  a voice  like  a lark,  and  to  Byer's  de- 
lighted ear  the  maidens  who  spun  English  yarn  sang  like  a whole 
choir  of  larks.  Hot  infrequently  comparisons  are  drawn  from  the 
old  custom  of  daring  larks  by  mirors  or  objects  that  would  excite 
terror . 

(3)  Hearn,  Interpretations  of  Literature,  vol  2,  p 319 


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-90- 


cpu.it  e like  a pseudo-classic  poet  and  appeared  to  have  a carefully 
studied  technique.  Gay’s  skylark  is  a most  humanly  gullible  crea- 
ture. 


Pride  lures  the  little  warbler  from  the  skies; 

The  light- enamour ’d  bird  deluded  dies.  (l) 

In  She  ns  tone  the  lark  is  still  far  from  ingenuous;  he  is  a-  con- 
scious artist  and  is  invited  to  display  his  vocal  powers  under 
Daphne’s  window* 

Go,  tuneful  -Bird,  that  glad’st  the  skies. 

To  Daphne  1 2 * 4 s window  speed  they  way; 

And  there  on  quivering  pinions  rise. 

And  there  they  vocal  art  display.  12) 

The  next  poet  of  importance  to  observe  the  skylark  is 
Joseph  Warton;  he  speaks  of  the  shrill  lark  that  wakes  the  wood- 
man to  his  early  task.  (5)  It  is  Gray,  however,  who  marks  con- 
spicuously the  changing  attitude  toward  the  poets1  bird,  when  that 
valetudinarian  Cambridge  don  anticipated  the  greatest  of  skylark 
poems  to  come  with  Shelley. 

But  still  the  skylark  warbles  high 
His  trembling,  thrilling  ecstasy, 

And  , lbs  sening  from  the  dazzled  sight. 

Melts  into  air  and  liquid  light.  (4) 

(1)  Gay,  Rural  Sports,  canto  II,  1 560 

(2)  Shenstone,  The  Skylark 

(2)  J.  Warton,  'The  Enthusiast. 

(4)  Gray,  Pleasures  of  Yiscis si tude . 


-91- 


Gray’s  poem  was  written  1754-5,  but  was  not  published  until  1775, 
seventeen  years  after  Joseph  Warton’ s verse.  GrayTs  bird,  it  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  remark,  sings  with  pure  joy  as  it  soars 
skyward;  so  it  is  very  obvious  from  his  closer  observation  that 
Gray  must  have  found  pleasure  as  he  listened  to  the  invisible 
singer  and  must  have  found  his  pleasure  the  keener  because  of  the 
mystery.  Thomas  Warton  next  voices  his  appreciation  (1777). 

Fraught  with  a transient,  frozen  shower, 

If  a cloud  should  haply  lower, 

Sailing  o’er  the  landscape  dark. 

Mute  on  a sudden  is  the  lark; 

But  when  gleams  the  sun  again 
0Ter  the  pearl-besprinkled  plain. 

And  from  behind  his  watTry  veil 
Looks  through  the  thin  descending  hail; 

Salutes  the  blithe  return  of  light, 

She  mounts,  and  lessening  to  the  sight. 

And  high  her  tuneful  track  pursues 

Mid  the  dim  rainbow1 s scattered  hues.  (1) 

The  Oxford  antiquarian  gives  new  information  about  the  bird,  for 

he  has  added  a new  and  lovely  habit  of  the  singer  which  stops  its 

song  when  the  sun  goew  behind  a cloud,  a true  poetic  conception, 

and  like  Gay,  he  speaks  of  it  "lessening  to  the  sight".  William 

Y/hitehead  also  pays  his  devoirs  and  adds  another  -pretty  idea  when 

he  speaks  of  the  birdTs  silence  when  it  reaches  the  apogee  of  its 

flight • 

See  how  the  Lark,  the  bird  of  day. 

Springs  from  the  earth,  and  wings  her  way I 
To  heaven1 s high  vault  her  course  she  bends. 

And  sweetly  sings  as  she  ascends. 

.But  wh  en , contents  d wi  t h he  r he  i ght , 

She  shuts  her  wings  and  checks  her  flight, 

ITo  more  she  chants  the  melting  strain. 

But  sinks  in  silence  to  the  plain.  (2) 

(1)  T.  Warton,  Ode  X 


(2)  Y/hitehead,  Skylark 


7 


-92- 

Cowper  speaks  of  the  lark  and  is  impressed  with  the  gayety  of  the 
innocent.  (1)  In  all  the  passages  mentioned  the  poets  con- 
spicuously fail  to  draw  morals  from  the  larkTs  song,  a point  which 
was  not  lost  upon  such  didactic  poets  as  Gay,  who  never  failed  to 
draw  a lesson  or  a similitude  whenever  the  bird  was  mentioned. 

Much  poetic  lore  is  utilized  by  Shelley;  his  predecessors  were 
preparing  the  way  for  his  crowning  achievement  in  poetry  about 
birds.  And  he  adds  a great  deal  of  his  own.  Pope’s  lark  pre- 
pares its  song.  Shelley’s  sings  with  "profuse  strains  of  un- 
premeditated art".  He  speaks,  too,  of  "the  soaring  bird",  "the 

ecstatic  song",  the  "unseen  singer"  all  the  fine  phrases 

whi c h have  preceded  him  are  combined  to  create  the  most  mag- 
nificent bird  poem  in  the  English  language,  a perfect  tribute  to 
the  poet’s  rival* 

V. 

The  progress  of  the  poets  and  prose  writers,  then,  in  tin 
eighteenth  century  was  away  from  the  neo-classic  tradition  of 
intellectualism , though  many,  like  the  followers  of  the  School 
of  Shaftesbury,  carefully  rationalized  their  positions.  They 
sought  a reasonable  as  well  as  an  emotional  justification  for 

(1)  Cowper,  Task.  I,  p 285 


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-92- 


their  points  of  view.  The  poets,  particularly,  sought  inspira- 
tion in  the  country  instead  of  in  the  town,  because  most  of  them 
knew  the  country  and  because  they  were  tired  of  the  neo-classic 
adaptation  of  worn-out  themes.  Thei r knowledge  of  the  rural 
scene  and  of  animal  life  had  been  therefore  obtained  at  first- 
hand, whereas  the  poets  before  Thomson,  with  few  exceptions,  had 
been  content  to  study  nature  vicariously  through  the  medium  of 
the  Latin  pastoral.  The  sensitiveness  during  the  century  to 
human  suffering  prepared  the  way  for  a sensitiveness  to  d 1 
suffering.  Nearly  all  the  poets  mentioned  in  this  chapter, 
Thomson,  Shenston^ , and  Dyer,  who  deplore  cruelty  to  animals, 
also  criticise  the  conditions  in  jails,  the  oppression  of  the 
peasant,  or  the  evils  of  the  slave  trade.  During  the  first  two 
decades  of  the  century  the  sentimentalists  established  a system 
of  ethics  which  conceived  of  God  as  benevolent  and  of  human 
na-ture  as  essentially  good.  I.Iany  poets  took  from  the  deism  of 
Shaftesbury  the  philosophical  justificati  on  of  a position  they 
were  already  prepared  to  take,  though  the  doctrine  of  humanitar- 
ianism  is  preached  by  many  poets  who  show  no  evidence  of  ahaftes- 
buryTs  influence.  Benevolence  and  sensibility  had  places  in  all 
branches  of  sentimental  activity  and  thought.  Neither  Dyer  nor 
Shenstone  is  a sentimental  deist.  Primatt  obtains  his  system 
from  Rousseau.  Rousseau  talks  only  of  the  rights  of  man;  Primatt 
talks  of  the  natural  rights  of  beasts. 


' 

. 


-94- 


As  sympathies  widened,  to  include  all  things , there  was 
a tendency  to  democratize  all  nature,  and  the  literary  men  showed 
first  pity  for  the  higher  animals  and  then  for  all  living 
creatures.  But  the  fraternal  spirit  was  not  yet  strongly  felt. 
The  writers  before  Cowper  were  compassionate;  they  were  not 
sympathetic.  The  chief  contribution  made  by  them  to  their  times 
is  their  accuracy  in  observing  animal  life  and  the  high  quality 
of  lyric  poetry  they  helped  to  develop. 

It  has  not  always  been  possible  to  examine  their  work 
chronologically,  because  the  development  of  literature  about 
animals  was  erratic  and  does  not  lend  itself  to  any  systematic 
treatment.  The  humanitarian  emotions  were  appearing  here  and 
there,  now  unequivocally , now  by  implication,  in  a variety  of 
philosophic  systems,  just  as  did  the  agitation  against  the  slave 
traffic  which  confined  itself  to  no  one  creed  or  school  of 
thought.  This  fact  will  be  more  apparent  after  a study  of 
such  poets  as  Cowper,  Blake , and  Barwin,  in  whom  literary 
catholicity  of  feeling  reached  its  height. 


, 


, 


-95- 


CHAPTER  IV. 

TEE  CULMINATION  OF  HUMANITARIAN  PEELING  IE  TIE  EIGHT- 
EENTH CENTURY . 

1.  Cowper  and  the  spiritual  kinship.  2.  Blake  and  the 
ideal  kinship.  3.  Darwin  and  the  scientific  ki  ship. 

1. 

I have  shown  in  the  foregoing  chapters  how  the  humanitar- 
ianism  of  the  eighteenth  century  became  more  popular;  how  it 
formed  alliances  without  number;  how  it  tended  gradually  to  ex- 
tend the  confines  of  democracy  and  to  concede  to  the  inferior 
animals  a more  dignified  place  in  the  scheme  of  things.  In  the 
literature  before  the  Restoration  a fondness  for  lower  forms  of 
life  is  apparent,  but  it  never  became  such  a persistent  force 
as  in  the  eighteenth  century,  never  made  before  such  a conscious 
demand  for  tolerance.  In  the  concluding  chapter  of  this  essay, 

I shall  make  brief  studies  of  three  later  humanitarians  to  show 
to  what  extremes  the  champions  went  and  to  show  in  what  diversified 
systems  Cowper,  31ak§  and  Darwin  carried  on  the  movement  which  lad 
gradually  developed  during  the  century.  Cowper  in  many  respects 
carried  on  the  doctrines  which  haVe been  stated  before.  Darwin 
in  his  method  is  prophetic  of  the  coming  age  of  science. 


-96- 


Temp  erarn  entail  y,  Cowper  was  never  fitted  to  accept  the 
relentless  and  self-effacing  logic  of  Calvinism.  Had  he  lived 
farther  away  from  the  noise  of  conflict,  had  he  never  met  the 
Reverend  John  Newton,  he  might  have  been  far  happier  and  might 
have  found  in  the  common  sense  of  St.  Paul  the  spiritual  balm 
to  cure  his  stricken  soul.  He  was  a gentle,  amiable,  sensitive 
person  to  whom  the  terrible  God  of  the  Genevans  simply  would 
not  remain  terrible.  God  is  all-good  and  all-wise  and  all- 
powerful,  Calvin  assumed.  He  works  out  destinies  in  His  own 
way,  and  it  is  not  for  the  individual  to  worry  about  his  own 
salvation  or  his  own  place  in  the  mighty  scheme.  To  God,  pre- 
determined damnation  or  election  are  but  parts  in  the  divine  pro- 
gram. Nothing  could  be  more  logical  than  this  if  one  accepts 
the  general  assumption  that  a frowning  deity  sits  somewhere  in 
space  with  a book  of  rules  in  one  hand  and  a syllogism  in  the 
other. 

Cowper* 8 Olney  Hymns  and  some  of  his  other  poetry  show 
precisely  how  this  agonizing  religion  had  gripped  a gentle  soul 
who  never  intentionally  harmed  anyone  in  the  world,  but  whose 
spirit  suffered  the  most  damnable  torments.  And  yet,  through 
the  black  midnight  of  Calvinism,  there  breaks  occasionally  the 
Pauline  sunlight.  God  is  love.  So  does  Cowper  insist  again 
and  again  until  he  finds  himself  once  more  in  the  gloom  of  a 
philosophical  system  which  he  did  not  have  the  temperament  tran- 
quilly to  dispel  or  utterly  to  reject. 


-97- 


In  his  youth  he  had  gone  to  Westminster  school,  .vhere  he 
received  a sound  classical  training  under  Vincent  Bourne,  whose 
Latin  verses  about  animals  have  been  mentioned  in  the  foregoing 
chapter.  In  his  later  years  he  acknowledged  his  debt  to  Bourne 
with  interest,  for  he  said  his  instructor  had  taught  him  in- 
dolence as  well  as  Latin;  but  Bourne  must  also  have  encouraged 
in  him  the  development  of  the  delicate  humor  which  remains  to 
this  day  his  greatest  charm. 

After  Ms  first  attack  of  insanity,  which  came  while  he 
was  seeking  a political  sinecure  through  the  aid  of  wealthy 
relatives,  he  went  to  the  village  of  Huntingdon,  a soporific 
market  town  of  two  thousand,  and  there  he  met  the  Unwins.  His 
religious  delusions  developed  after  he  went  mad,  not  before,  when 
worry  over  examination  for  the  political  appointment  had  ag- 
gravated his  morbidity.  When  living  with  the  Unwins,  his  days 
were  passed  in  ~oing  to  church,  praying,  and  s inging  hymns. 

When  the  Reverend  Hr.  Unwin  died  in  1767  as  a result  of 
an  accident.  Gov/per  continued  to  live  with  his  widow.  The  Reverend 
John  Hewton,  having  heard  of  the  religious  zeal  of  Mrs.  Unwin, 
sought  an  introduction  to  her  and  finally  procured  for  them  a 
residence  in  Olney,  Buckinghamshire , where  he  held  a curacy.  Here 


-98- 


Cowper  had  a second  attack  of  madness  with  an  accompanying  de- 
sire to  kill  himself.  ITewton  was  his  faithful  friend,  but  the 
Calvinistic  element  in  his  piety  must  have  contributed  new  and 
exquisite  forms  of  mental  torture.  It  was  after  the  departure  of 
ITewton  for  his  new  charge  of  St.  Mary  Woolnoth  that  Mrs.  Unwin 
persuaded  Cowper  to  make  some  sustained  literary  effort.  In 
1780-1  he  produced  Truth,  Table -Talk. and  The  Progress  of  Error . 

He  became  interested  in  animals  and  gardening  two  occupations 

which  kept  his  mind  off  the  puzzling  problems  of  his  spiritual 
destiny.  After  ITewton,  the  greatest  influences  in  his  life  were 
women.  After  the  separation  from  ITewton  and  under  the  kindly 
protection  of  Mary  Unwin,  lady  Kesketh,  and  lady  Austin,  his  life 
was  as  tranquil  as  such  a person's  may  be.  He  lived  a quiet  and 
sedentary  existence,  in  a score  of  years  never  going  more  than 
ten  miles  from  home,  but  living  intensively,  nevertheless,  the 
life  of  his  village  and  taking  a lively  interest  in  the  affairs 
of  its  people. 

In  the  country,  where  he  was  surrounded  by  the  little 
group  that  loved  him,  Cowper  worked  out  his  life.  He  had  an 
abundance  of  leisure  , which  sometimes  bored  him,  and  plenty  of 
time  in  which  to  develop  his  idealism  with  Eesleyan  eloquence  if 
not  with  Y/esleyan  militance.  Yet  he  was  not  able  completely  to 
escape  the  harsher  aspects  of  Calvinism  as  V/esley  did  when  he 


-99- 


rejected  logic  and  declared  that  works  and  faith  precede  election, 
thus  completely  reversing  the  Genevan  doctrine. 

But  Cowper  in  the  main  wor shipped  a God  who  "moves  in  a 
mysterious  way"  and  who  fills  the  recalcitrant  with  such  utter 
and  stupefying  terror  that  he  shrieks , 


For  the  sinner  the  Bible  is  a rule  of  life  and  worship.  He  need 
not  incur  the  penalty  of  his  own  depravity  if  he  accepts  the  in- 
spired word. 

The  book  shall  teach  you;  read,  believe, and  live.  (2) 

Upon  the  throne  sits  triumphant  Grace,  reigning  alone  and  scorn- 
ing any  rival  as  a means  to  eternal  bliss.  The  mere  fact  that 
one  lias  lived  an  exemplary  life  will  not  save.  (5)  Works, 
however,  are  to  be  esteemed,  because  they  are  man’s  highs  st 
pleasures;  yet  he  cannot  take  comfort  or  solace  in  them,  for 
God  alone,  as  Galvin  had  said  before,  puts  charity  in  the  hearts 
of  the  blessed.  (4)  Even  the  harlot,  in  her  humility,  may 
somehow  be  bat  lied  in  regenerating  light  while  the  proud  are  re- 
jected by  this  terrifying  deity.  (5) 


Crush  me,  ye  rocks;  ye  falling'  mountains  hide. 
Or  bury  me  in  ocean’s  angry  tide  I 
The  scrutiny  of  those  all-seeing  e i 
I dare  not  


Certainly  with  a conception  of  the  divine  like  this. 


(1)  Truth.  1 269  .ff 

(2)  Ibid,  1 274 


( 0 ) Hot  of  Works,  Hymn  LZIV 


(4)  Chari ty . 1 7 
or.  1 511 


( 5 ) Progress  o f Brro r 


-100- 


Cowper  would  have  rejected  and  did  reject  the  sentimental 
God  of  the  deists,  who  exposes  His  secrets  through  the  reason 
and  who  leaves  the  sole  evidence  of  His  handiwork  in  mountain 
and  flood.  If  man  is  not  perversely  blind,  then  God  will  show 
him  the  way,  and 

Nature,  employed  in  her  allotted  place, 

Is  handmaid  to  the  purposes  of  grace.  (l) 

Thus  far,  the  deistic  position  is  tenable;  hut  Nature  is  the 

handmaid  and  may  by  no  means  be  accepted  as  the  truth  which 

sets  us  free,  as  the  deist  would  have  us  believe. 

, Yet  through  the  clouds  of  doubt  there  comes  the  vision 
of  a time  when  all  will  be  different,  when  the  sternness  of 
GodTs  face  shall  relax,  when  the  Golden  Age  shall  return  to 
a world  long  cursed  because  of  original  sin.  At  the  sound 
of  the  last  trump,  God  will  come, 

Propitious  in  his  chariot  paved  with  love.  (2) 

The  real  God  of  Cowper,  if  we  may  take-  him  without  the  influence 
of  religious  terror,  is  a God  of  love  and  benevolence,  who  held 


(1)  Hope,  1 145 

(2)  Task,  VI  L 744 


-101- 


the  world  as  dear  as  the  poet  held  all  living  things.  Time  and 
again  his  optimism  struggles  with  that  relentless  logic.  Man 
has  an  "elective  voice"  and  may  choose  between  good  and  evil, 
but  despair  throws  him  back  again  on  the  horns  of  the  dilemma. 
How  can  a man  be  free  and  at  the  same  time  be  predestined  be- 
fore his  birth?  There  was  no  answer,  and  Cowper  found  none 
which  satisfied  him  for  more  than  a moment.  (1) 

There  are  joys  to  be  had  in  life,  however,  notwithstand- 
ing that  destiny  is  so  uncertain  and  the  chances  of  election 
to  eternal  bliss  a matter  of  such  heartbreaking  doubt.  He  care- 
fully discriminates  between  valid  pleasures  and  invalid.  Card- 
playing is  wicked , hunting  is  wi eked , intemperance  is  wicked, 
the  tavern  is  wicked,  desecrating  the  Sabbath  is  wicked.  The 
highest  good  is  altruism;  the  highest  pleasure,  the  brother- 
hood of  man. 

Ho  pleasure!  Are  domestic  comforts  dead? 

Are  all  the  nameless  sweets  of  friendship  fled? 

Has  time  worn  out,  or  fashion  put  to  shame, 

Good  sense,  good  health,  good  conscience,  and  good  fame? 
All  these  belong  to  virtue,  and  all  prove 
That  virtue  hasa  title  to  your  love. 

Have  you  no  touch  of  pity  that  the  poor 
Stand  starved  at  your  inhospitable  door? 

Or  if  yourself,  too  scantily  supplied, 
lleed  help,  let  honest  industry  provide. 

Earn,  if  you  want;  if  you  abound,  impart. 

These  both  are  pleasures  to  the  feeling  heart.  (2) 


(1)  Progress  of  Error,  L 45 

(2)  Ibid,  L 24S  ff 


* 


1 


\ 


102  - 


And  Gowper  practised  what  he  preached.  Wherever  he 
lived  he  was  loved.  Man  in  the  abstract  he  despised.  Man  in 
the  flesh  he  helped  in  a practical  way  when  he  could,  and 
was  during  his  whole  life  the  champion  of  liberty  and  ifche  rights 
of  men  to  share  in  the  world  from  which  Christian  communism 
had  temporarily  been  banished.  When  he  moved  to  Olney,  he  be- 
came the  eager  assistant  of  John  Newton  in  his  pastoral  duties, 
aiding  his  parishioners  with  gifts  against  their  immediate 
needs  and  with  his  eloquence  trying  to  influence  public- s irit- 
ed  men  to  ameliorate  social  conditions  in  the  village.  Lace- 
making was  the  principal  occupation  of  the  poor  in  Olney,  and 
Gowper  was  the  friend  of  them  all.  To  Joseph  Hill  he  wrote  of 
his  charitable  activities;  how  he  load  taken  blankets  to  the 
homes  of  the  poor  and  how  delighted  they  had  been,  one  old 
woman  being  unable  to  sleep  the  first  night  because  of  the  un- 
wonted luxury.  (1)  In  the  same  letter  he  protested  against 
the  hardship  of  a tax  on  candles  which  made  illumination  pro- 
hibitive in  neighboring  cottages.  The  villagers  called  the 
poet  "the  squire"  and  "Sir  Gov/per";  and  a parliamentary  can- 
didate recognized  his  powers  among  the  voters  by  seeking  his  po- 
litical support,  much  to  Gowper 's  surprise  and  amusement .( 2) 

He  was  a passionate  sympathizer  with  the  cause  of  the  op- 
pressed everywhere,  though  his  practical  activity  was  confined 

(1)  Letter  to  Joseph  Hill  3 July  ’84.  (2)  ibid  29  Mar  '84 


-103- 


to  the  little  group  in  which  he  lived.  He  watched  with  ecstasy 
the  growth  of  liberal  feeling  throughout  Europe  and  looked  for- 
ward delightedly  to  the  forced  abdication  of  princes  who  thwart- 
ed the  public  will.  He  recognized  the  menace  of  the  Bastille  to 
liberty,  but  Ms  hopes  for  the  future  were  that  some  form  of 
constitutional  democracy  like  England’s  would  be  as  far  as  the 
revolt  should  go.  "What  is  man?"  (1)  he  asks,  and  then  pro- 
ceeds to  tell  how  his  noblest  acts  are  nothing  in  the  Master’s 
sight.  But  to  the  question,  "What  are  men?"  the  events  of 
his  life  answer  far  differently.  Men  belong  to  a brotherhood 
transcending  the  narrow  confines  of  nationality. 

I think,  articulate,  I laugh  and  weep. 

And  exercise  all  functions  of  a man. 

How  then  should  I and  any  man  that  lives 
Be  strangers  to  each  other? (2) 

And  in  his  eagerness  for  fraternity  with  the  patriots  of  Erance 

he  sets  the  loss  of  the  American  colonies  at  naught. 

True,  we  have  lost  an  empire  --  let  it  pass.  (3) 

All  that  counts  is  manhood,  virtue,  and  truth. 

To  such  a temperament  as  Gowper’s,  slavery  was  absolutely 

insufferable;  and  though  he  took  no  active  part  in  the  battle 

waged  by  Granville  Sharp,  his  heart  was  in  the  cause.  The  only 

difference  between  white  and.  black  lies  in  the  color  of  their 

skins.  ( * ) "Slavery,"  he  wrote  to  the  Reverend  Walter  Bagot, 

(l)  Truth.  1 382  (2)  Task.  Ill  1 200  ff 

T3 ) Ibid,  II  1 263.  ~ ("*  ) U e gr o T s C omp la int . 


-104- 


"and  especially  negro  slavery,  because  the  cruelest,  is  an  odious 
and  disgusting  subject.  Twice  or  thrice  I have  been  assailed  to 
write  a poem  on  that  theme....  There  are  some  scenes  of  horror 
on  which  ray  imagination  can  dwell,  not  without  some  complacence. 
But  then  they  are  such  scenes  as  God,  not  man,  produces.  -But  when 
man  is  active  to  disturb,  there  is  such  rneaness  in  the  design, 
and  such  cruelty  in  the  execution,  that  I both  hate  and  de- 
spise the  whole  operation,  and  feel  it  a degradation  of  poetry 
to  employ  her  in  the  description  of  it."  (1) 

The  poet's  la;e  for  animals  was  as  sincere  as  his  love 
for  men;  he  loathed  hunting  in  all  forms  and  was  even  willing  to 
let  the  suspect  go  in  peace  so  long  as  self-defense  permitted  the 
general  armistice  to  last.  Unlike  those  earlier  poets  who  ex- 
ulted over  the  chase  or  who  wrote  apologetically  of  the  great 
English  sport,  he  includes  in  his  world  society  all  living  crea- 
tures. "Ivllan  may  dismiss  compassion  from  his  heart,  but  Uod  will 
never. " 

I would  not  enter  on  my  list  of  friends 

(Though  graced  with  polish'd  manners  and  fine  sense, 

Yet  wanting  sensibility)  the  man 
Who  needlessly  sets  foot  upon  a worm, 

An  inadvertent  step  may  crush  the  snail 
That  crawls  at  evening  in  the  public  path; 

But  he  that  has  humanity,  forewarn'd, 

Will  tread  aside  and  let  the  reptile  live. 

The  creeping  veimin,  loathsome  to  the  sight, 


(l)  To  Rev,  Walter  Bagot,  1788,  Southey  ed.  vol  6. 


. ^ 


< 


r 


5 


^ , 
■ 


-105- 


And  charged  perhaps  mth  venom,  that  intrudes 

A visitor  unwelcome,  into  scenes 

Sacred  to  neatness  and  repose,  the  alcove. 

The  chamber,  or  refectory,  may  die* 

A necessary  act  incurs  no  blame.  (1) 

In  the  first  days  before  "sin  marred  all",  man  ruled  as  God’s 
viceroy  on  earth;  but  now  his  erstwhile  subjects  have  rightfully 
revolted,  and  mutual  mistrust  is  the  appalling  result.  (2)  Far 
off  in  the  future  there  will  come  again  a peace  of  nature  when  all 
animals  will  once  more  live  together  in  perfect  harmony  and  con- 
tentment , when  every  infant  may  with  impunity  "dally  with  the 
crested  worm" . (5) 

For  vegetarianism  Gowper  sensibly  had  no  use.  He  had  no 
quarrel  with  the  eater  of  flesh  in  a world  where  every  animal 
must  prey  on  sane  living  thing  in  order  to  exist.  Over  all, 

God  gave  to  man  the  right  of  life  and  death,  but  killing  for 
the  mere  joy  of  killing  was  as  alien  to  Gov/per  as  it  was  to  the 
fastidious  and  highly  civilized  Utopians  of  Sir  Thomas  More. 

(4)  The  true  lesson  to  be  learned  is  that  God  loves  us,  but  that 
the  world  is  not  created  for  men  only.  Other  creatures  on  earth 
besides  men  have  an  interest  in  the  Father's  love. 

The  Gowper  rabbits  will  live  in  literature  with  less 
fame  than  Horace  Walpole* s cat,  which  was  drowned  in  a gold- 
fishing expedition,  but  with  more  , perhaps,  than  Dr.  Johnson’s 


(1)  Task,  I L 560 

(2)  Ibid,  I L 568 


(3)  Ibid,  I L 773 

(4)  Ibid,  VI. L 450 


-106- 


feline  gutter  friend,  one  Hodge,  which  Boswell  abominated  almost 
as  much  as  he  did  the  doctor Ts  other  pensioners.  There  is  one  story 
of  Cowper  which  illustrates  well  what  a place  of  consideration 
Puss  occupied  in  the  01neym£nage.  He  was  in  the  parlor  one 
day  when  Mr.  Grenville,  who  sought  to  represent  the  Olney  con- 
stituency in  Parliament,  called  on  the  poet.  The  poor  gentle- 
man was  announced,  but  was  forced  to  enter  by  the  back  door,  be- 
cause Puss  was  not  to  be  given  a nervous  shock  by  the  si  ght  of  a 
stranger.  As  soon  as  he  was  safely  in  his  hutch,  the  politician 
was  permitted  to  enter.  (1) 

To  Cowper  every  creature  had  an  individuality  as  dis- 
tinct from  others  of  the  species  as  men  are  distinct,  and  he 
found  the  subject  interesting  enough  to  write  an  article  about. 

"You  observe,  sir,"  he  wrote  to  the  Gentlemen1 s Magazine , "that 
I describe  these  animals  as  having  each  a character  of  is 
own.  Such  they  were  in  fact,  and  their  faces  were  so  expressive 
of  that  character,  that,  when  I looked  only  on  the  face  of 
either,  I immediat ely  knew  which  it  was...  I doubt  not  that  the 
same  discrimination  in  the  cast  of  countenances  v/ould  be  dis- 
coverable IP  hares,  and  am  persuaded  that  among  a thousand 


(1)  Letter  to  Joseph  Hill,  3 July  ’84. 


-007- 


of  them  no  two  could  be  found  exactly  similar;  a cir cumstance 
little  suspected  by  those  who  have  not  had  an  opportunity  to 

i 

observe  it."  (l) 

In  Gowper 1 s view,  then,  the  world  was  originally  in- 
tended by  God  as  a democracy  in  which  all  creatures  that  live, 
from  men  to  fireflies,  had  a natural  share  with  man  as  ben- 
evolent viceroy  having  delegated  powers  from  the  Almighty;  but 
because  of  the  original  sin,  the  peace  of  nature  was  superseded 
by  incessant  strife  and  universal  mistrust.  This  is  not  a man’s 
world  only.  He  has  no  right  to  assume  that  it  is.  Instead, 
it  is  intended  to  be  a communal  sphere.  Man  should  love  all 
living  things  for  two  reasons:  first,  because  all  are  creatures 

of  the  God  who  loves  all  alike;  second,  because  it  is  inhuman 
and  unnatural  that  man  should  not  sympathize  with  the  creatures 
about  him.  As  to  the  relationship  of  man  with  man,  the  bounds 
of  human  society  are  the  only  bounds  to  heed,  not  the  frontiers 
of  nations  with  patriots  snarling  across  them,  over  mindful  of 
their  own  group  interests.  Brotherhood  transcends  all  other 

relationships  a brotherhood  of  the  creatures  of  God,  a 

spiritual  kinship. 

2. 

When  William  -Slake  was  a child  of  four,  he  saw  God  peer- 
ing through  the  window.  When  he  was  a snail  boy  on  his  wqy  to 
(1)  Reprinted  in  the  Aldine  edition  of  Gowper ' s works. 


9 


' 


9 


. 


-108- 


sc.hool,  he  saw  a tree  full  of  angels  near  Peckham.  Throughout 
a long  life  of  seventy  years,  he  came  and  went  in  a world  in- 
visible to  the  nomal  eye,  in  which  he  saw  "Ezekiel  sitting  on 
a green  how",  in  which  thistles  became  old  men,  in  which  Ihe 
sun  become  Los,  the  symbol  of  time,  He  wandered  in  strange 
lands  peopled  by  pre-Adamite  giants  and  the  disembodied  spirits 
who  dwelt  beyond  reality  on  the  frontiers  of  time  and  space; 
he  communed  with  such  aspiring  beings  as  fill  the  apocalyptic 
pages  of  the  Heaven  and  Hell  of  Swedenborg,  the  strange  lore 
of  the  Alexandrian  Platonists,  and  The  Qelestial  Hierarchy 
of  the  pseudo  Dionysius.  Y/hen  in  company  with  earthly  friends, 
he  sometimes  would  begin  to  sketch  furiously  from  some  model 
invisible  to  those  who,  unlike  him,  had  only  one  world  to  dwell 
in  instead  of  four. 

How  I a fourfold  vision  see. 

And  a fourfold  vision  is  given  to  me; 

'Tis  fourfold  in  my  supreme  delight, 

And  threefold  in  soft  Beulah's  night, 

And  twofold  always.  May  God  us  keep 

Prom  single  vision,  and  Eewton’s  sleep!  (l) 

A.t  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was  apprenticed  to  an  engraver 
and  afterward  studied,  though  without  much  effect,  at  the  Royal 
Academy,  where  the  lectures  of  ^ir  Joshua  Reynolds  and  the  con- 
ventionalized art  of  the  neo-classic  school  drove  him  into  a fury 
of  indignation  and  revolt;  for  Blake  insisted  that  the  artist 
should  see  not  with  but  through  the  eye.  With  the  aid  of  his 


(1)  Verses . p 155 


-109- 


fourfold  vision  he  painted  with  utter  disregard  for  tradition 
of  form  and  composition,  reproducing  through  his  engravings  the 
fantastic  and  awful  creatures  of  a super-earthly  imagination, 
and  declaring  that  to  paint  from  living  models  was  to  paint 
dead  things.  MHe  possesses  the  large  range  of  primordial 
emotion,  from  the  utter  innocence  and  happy  unconsciousness 
instinct  of  infancy,  up  to  the  fervours  of  the  prophet,  inspired 
to  announce,  to  judge, and  to  reprohate.”  (1)  In  the  Songs 
of  Innocence  he  writes  with  loving  sympathy  of  children  and  with 
the  charming  ingenuousness  which  the  adult  mind  can  seldom 
approach,  because  he  himself  remained,  in  many  respects,  a child 
until  the  day  of  his  death.  His  ethical  code,  which  developed 
its  fullest  expression  in  Jerusalem,  is  a sta-tement  of  this 
childlike  faith  in  a philosophy  of  infinite  love  and  infinite 
forgiveness  for  sins  committed.  It  was  a doctrine  workable  only 
in  that  land  where  his  fancy  wandered  am  would  have  been  absolute 
ly  impossible  in  a world  uninhabited  by  the  spirits  of  his  vision. 

At  the  time  of  the  rench  revolution  the  poet  was  assoc- 
iated with  such  English  radicals  as  Priestley,  Paine,  Holcroft, 
and  Mary  Wollstonecraft . It  was  he  vifoo  warned  Paine  to  flee 
after  the  publication  of  I he  Rights  of  Han  drew  upon  him  the 
indignation  of  the  British  government.  Blake  was  the  sort  of 


(1)  Introduction,  by  W,  M.  Rosseti,  p CXil 


-110- 


dreamer  who  in  all  ages  attach  themselves  to  liberal  movements, 
useless  so  far  as  action  goes,  hut,  nevertheless,  in  such  accord 
with  the  prevailing  thought  that  their  presence  is  tolerated. 

In  theory  he  was  far  more  liberal  than  any  of  the  English  group 
he  knew  so  well,  but  his  theories  always  remained  only  theories. 
Had  they  been  peit  in  operation,  one  can  imagine  the  horror  of 
even  such  dissenters  as  Godwin,  Paine,  or  Mary  ./ollstonecraft  • 
Nothing  could  be  more  dangerous  in  studying  a mystic 
than  to  attempt  a thorough  interpretation  of  his  symbolism  and  of 
his  peregrinations  in  the  supernatural.  In  this  discussion  I 
intend  to  make  only  a general  consideration  of  the  ideas  under- 
lying Blake  Ts  poetry  and  to  make  no  effort  at  an  elaborate  ex- 
planation of  a puzzle  which  it  i s impossible  for  any,  except  for 
men  of  similar  temperament,  to  understand  or  to  sympathize  with. 
Blake  is  related  in  spirit  with  such  earlier  mystics  as  PlQtinus, 
Pico,  and  the  pseudo  Dionysius.  He  may  have  derived  his  im- 
mediate inspiration  from  Swedenborg,  but  Bwedenborg  himself  be- 
longs to  the  same  group.  They  may  have  differed  in  details; 
indeed,  there  is  no  very  close  correspondence  between  those 
mentioned  when  it  comes  to  particulars,  but  their  geniuses  are 
in  sympathy  one  with  another,  regardless  of  their  separation  in 
point  of  time. 


-111- 


The  most  significant  characteristic  that  these  men  have 

in  common  is  aspiration the  desire  of  the  ethereal  element 

in  man  to  disengage  itself  from  the  earthly  and  to  rise  by 
stages  in  an  almost  infinite  progression  to  the  pre-eminent  per- 
fection, which  is  God.  In  the  system  of  Plotinus,  the  One,  God, 
generates  all;  but  this  derived  existence  is  subject  to  a dim- 
inishing completeness,  just  as  the  created  is  always  less  than 
the  creator.  The  finite  being  has  the  choice  of  imiting  with 
the  corporeal  world,  or  it  may,  by  perfecting  itself  through 
ascetic  virtues  and  the  contemplation  of  the  Primordial  -Being, 
eventually  approach  it.  All  life,  then,  according  to  Plotinus, 
is  a journey  toward  the  infinite  perfection  of  this  Super-Being, 
and  all  of  us  are  parts  in  this  scheme  of  dynamic  pantheism. 

(1)  The  soul  created  by  God,  and  also  a part  of  God,  longs  to 
return.  It  i s impossible,  says  the  neo-Platoni st , to  speah  of 
the  Deity Ts  attributes  without  limiting  Him  within  space  and  time 
The  mind  of  mortals  cannot  conceive  Him.  The  nearest 
it  can  approach  is  through  the  system  of  inferior  spirits  called 
angels  by  biblical  seers,  emanations  by  cabbalistic  writers,  who 
dwell  between  earth-born  creatures  and  God.  It  is  this  note  of 
aspiration,  this  love  of  peopling  "the  to  rid  with  beautiful  myths 

(1)  Encyclopaedia  Brittanica  art.  on  Heo -Platonism. 


t 


9 


. 


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y 

. 


r 


-112- 


v/hich  Blake  has  in  common  with  the  mystics  of  Alexandria  and 
Judea.  His  world  of  idea  transcends  the  corporeal  world,  be- 
cause it  is  peopled  wth  disembodied  ghosts  which  have  £h  aken 
off  the  limits  of  earthly  existence.  1'he  greatest  consummation 
is  to  be  joined  in  eternal  bliss  with  the  Spirit,  to  lose  one’s 
entity  in  pure  Being.  This  is  almost  identical  with  the 
system  of  Swedenborg  (1),  who  describes  the  conjunction  of  the 
soul  with  the  lord  in  the  second  chapter  of  The  Divine  Providence . 

The  correspondence  of  Blake’s  system  to  those  which  have 
been  so  hastily  described  and  his  idea  of  God  and  his  relation 
to  God  are  repeated  so  often  in  his  poetry  that  there  i s no 
mistaking  his  meaning.  Let  us  take,  for  example,  a perfectly 
clear  little  poem  with  an  idea  apparent  and  familiar  to  every 
lover  of  the  poet. 

Ah,  Sunflower,  weary  of  time. 

Who  co untest  the  steps  of  the  Sun; 

Seeking  after  that  sweet  golden  clime, 

Where  the  traveller’s  journey  is  done; 

Where  youth  pined  away  with  desire. 

And  the  pale  virgins  shrouded  in  snow, 

Arise  from  their  graves,  and  aspire 

Where  my  Sunflower  wishes  to  go l (2) 

The  note  of  aspiration  is  very  apparent.  The  humanitarian  ism  of 

Blake  is  not  based,  as  in  Cowper,  on  the  spiritual  kinship  of 


(1)  "This  conjunction  (with  the  Lord)  by  continued  approach  may 
go  on  increasing  to  eternity,  and  with  the  angels  it  does  increase 
to  eternity.”  The  Divine  Providence.  Chapter  II,  Paragraph  32. 

(2)  Ah  Sunflower . p 108,  Bosetti  edition 


I 


-113- 

man  in  the  love  of  a Creator  with  a separate  entity,  hut  it  is 
based,  on  the  loss  of  the  soul’s  personality  in  a Deity  of  pure 
idea. 

This  union  of  God  is  described  in  Biake* s poem,  _To  Mr. 
Butts  (1),  when  he  says  we  descend  to  earth  like  infants  and 
that  life  is  but  a shadow  of  reality.  Heavenly  men  are  bring- 
ing light  to  the  expanding  eyes  of  the  visionary,  who  is  the 
poet  himself.  Gradually  these  men  become  one,  and  the  synthetic 
man  begins  to  infold  within  himself  the  limbs  of  the  poet,  so 
that  all  earthly  dross  and  clay  are  purged  in  the  purifying 
light  of  the  One.  On  earth  we  are  but  faint  shadows  of  the 
divine,  just  as  everything,  even  the  sands  on  the  shore,  are 
parts  of  the  great  Whole. 

^n  the  same  tone  speaks  the  little  black  boy  in  The 
Songs  of  Innocenc e to  whom  Blake’s  heart  goes  out  with  all  the 
tenderness  of  his  gentle  and  erratic  nature.  We  are  put  on 
earth  a little  space,  (2)  the  black  boy^s  mother  tells  him, 
so  that  we  may  bear  the  beams  of  love. 

And  these  black  bodies  and  this  sunburnt  face 

Are  but  a cloud,  and  like  a shady  grove. 

When  our  souls  are  able  to  bear  the  celestial  radiance,  the 


(1)  Amu,  p.  In, 

(2)  Mttle  Blaek  Boy,  p 81 


-114- 


clouds  will  vanish.  The  black  race  is  imprisoned  in  a black 
cloud,  the  white  in  a white  cloud,  but  both  have  the  same  oppor- 
tunity to  make  the  long  journey  to  ideal  bliss  and  to  a far  less 
tawdry  heaven  than  Calvinism  places  before  our  eyes. 

'hat  is  the  place  of  man  in  this  welter  of  reality  and 
unreality,  of  objects  indiscriminately  mingled  with  ideas,  in 
this  world  where  thistles  are  old  men  and  winds  are  the  rustling 
of  angels1  wings?  Though  the  material  world  presents  itself 
to  the  eye  as  plural,  as  if  it  were  made  up  of  many  objects 
and  individualities,  all  are  a part  of  the  One.  His  answer  to 
any  Question  concerning  the  position  Of  man  is  given  in  Songs  o f 
Innocenc e.  "Can  I see  another’s  woe?"  he  asks,  and  not  also  feel 
that  sorrow  as  intensely  as  if  it  were  his  om.  Gan  there  be 
any  feeling  but  compassion  and  a desire  to  give  relief  when  one 
sees  a fellow  in  distress? 

He  (God)  doth  give  his  Joy  to  all; 

He  becomes  an  infant  small; 

He  becomes  a man  of  woe; 

He  doth  feel  the  sorrow  too.  (l) 

The  brotherhood  of  man  is  a mystical  brotherhood.  The  human 
race  is  enveloped  in  a greater,  because  God  feels  our  sorrow/ 
and  can  become  a man  of  suffering,  even  as  He  enters  into  the 
angels  in  the  system  of  Swedenborg.  (2) 

(1)  On  Another’s  Sorrow . p 94 
(2)  The  Oivine  Providence , Heav en  and  Hell 


-115- 


This,  then,  is  the  “basis  for  -Blake1  s humani tarianism. 
Lathing  lives  for  itself  alone.  In  The  Book  o f The  1 . the  daughters 
of  the  Seraphim  lead  round  their  flocks,  but  the  youngest  is 
sad  and  venders  why  these  earthly  beauties  must  fade,  ohe  talks 
with  the  lily  of  the  valley,  the  worm,  the  cloud,  and  even  the 
clod;  and  each  preaches  to  her  a lesson  of  infinite  love.  She 

x 

laments  to  the  cloud  that  one  day  she  must  become  the  food  of 
worms,  to  which  it  replies. 

Then  if  thou  art  the  food  of  worms,  0 virgin  of  the  skies, 
How  great  thy  use,  how  great  they  blessing! 

Everything  that  lives 
Lives  not  alone  nor  for  itself,  (l) 

Into  this  altruistic  fraternity  which  includes  not  only  livirg 

things  but  those  thihgs  which  seem  to  the  mortal  eye  inorganic, 

even  the  devil  himself  may  enter,  because  he,  too,  is  a part  of 

God.  (2)  There  must  be  in  this  life  infinite  sinning  so  that 

there  may  be  infinite  forgiving.  There  could  be  no  mercy  if  there 

were  no  poor.  There  could  be  no  mercy  if  all  were  happy.  Hence, 

evil  is  a part  of  the  world  scheme,  because  it  gives  all  things 

a chance  to  be  more  humane,  more  gentle,  more  godly.  (5)  Man 

is  not  an  independent  being,  nor  is  he  alone  the  favorite  of  God. 

He  is  but  one  creature  in  many  millions  who  bask  in  the  celestial 

effulgence;  and  all  the  feelings  of  the  higher  altruism  are 

put  within  his  ken  that  he  may  be  regenerated  and  cleansed  and 

(1)  The  Book  of  Thel,  p 72-5 

{ 2 ) The  Little  Vagabond 

( 5)  The  Human  Abstract  and  Jerusalem. 


-116- 


that  he  my  have  the  o-pportunity  to  climb  to  spiritual  perfection. 

With  such  a philosophical  justification  for  humanit arianisn; 
democracy  in  nature  must  necessarily  follow.  All  creatures 
must  live  together  in  mutual,  toleration  and,  more  than  that, 
in  mutual  love,  livery  evil,  every  cruelty,  is  to  be  accepted 
thankf ully,  for  they  are  present  in  the  world  that  our  finer  feel- 
ings may  be  aroused.  The  lot  of  all  creatures  is  alike. 

Am  not  I 

A fly  like  thee? 

Or  art  not  thou 

A man  like  me?  (l) 

In  Augur ies  of  Innocence  he  enumerates  the  ways  in  which  man 
abiises  the  lower  animals.  All  heaven  rages  at  the  sight  of 
caged  bird.  A skylark  wounded  causes  a cherub  to  stop  his 
singing.  A horse  misused,  a dog  starved,  a fly  wantonly  killed 
all  crimes  as  enormous  as  those  which  Lafayette  v/as  fight- 
ing across  the  channel.  Blake  goes  further  than  any  humanitarian 
of  his  time.  Cowper  permitted  the  killing  of  an  animal  in  self- 
defense,  but  in  Blake1  s world  of  ideas  such  a possibility  seems 
not  to  have  presented  itself.  All  hunting  is  wrong,  ITo  animal 
may  be  pursued  under  any  circumstances,  because  it  is  contrary 
to  celestial  compassion. 


(1)  The  Bly . p 105 


-117- 


Every  wolf's  and  lion*s  howl 
Raises  from  hell  a human  soul. 

Each  outcry  of  the  hunted  Imre 
A fibre  from  the  brain  doth  tear  ... 

And  last  of  all,  he  includes  the  slave,  for  the  poor  man,s  far- 
thing is  worth  more  than  all  the  gold  in  Africa.  Auguries  of 
Innocence  is  the  benedictine  rule  of  humanitarianism.  It  is  a 
formless  piece  of  verse  with  no  intrinsic  merit;  as  a matter 
of  fact , it  seems  like  a score  of  couplets  put  down  at  random 
and  finally  herded  together  in  one  poem.  But  it  sums  up  in  those 
couplets  exactly  what  the  humanitarians  of  the  century  had  been 
preparing  for.  If  Blake  in  the  mass  of  his  poetical  works  illus- 
trates the  sum  total  of  romantic  progress  during  the  eighteenth 
century,  (1)  this  one  bit  of  verse  illustrates  the  humanitarian 
progress  over  the  same  length  of  time. 

Blake's  work, "therefore,  is  the  culmination  of  all  that 
1ms  been.  Beyond  his  inclusiveness  it  was  impossible  to  go. 

Man  and  beast  and  clod  are  parts  of  the  divine  and  mystic  vtiole 

joint  sharers  in  a world  where  evil  exists,  because  it  aids 

the  earthly  creatures  to  escape  corporeal  existence.  Cowper 
sang  the  brotherhood  of  the  animate  creatures  of  God.  He  was 
a cosmopolite,  a lover  of. all  living  creatures,  and.  a relentless 
foe  to  oppression,  whether  it  were  oppression  of  slave  or  the 

(1)  Unpublished  lecture  notes  of  Prof.  S.  P.  Sherman 


-118- 


hu  ted  animals  of  the  forest.  He  sympathi  zed  wl  th  revolution  so 
long  as  it  stayed  within  the  bounds  of  constitutional  progression. 
He  believed  firmly  that  the  ethical  laws  were  laid  dorm  forever 
in  the  booh  that  God  had  given  to  man  as  his  earthly  guide.  Blabe 
sang  the  brotherhood  of  the  animate  and  inanimate  creatures 
God.  Sometimes  he  seems  to  believe  in  a personal  deity  or,  at 
least,  one  with  some  human  attributes.  More  often  he  is  enamoured 
with  a progressive  pantheism.  He  sympathized  vri.  th  revolution 
because  he  could  not,  as  he  so  often  says,  see  another  suffer  with- 
out suffering  at  the  same  time.  His  ethical  system  finds  no 
foundation  in  any  booh.  His  whole  philosophy  is  based  upon  a 
neo-Platonic  system  of  love  and  of  an  inclusive  .God  whose  whole 
attitude  toward  the  faint  shadows  of  the  real  world  is  one  of 
paternal  affection.  A golden  age  will  come  when  all  shall  be 
r generated  end  shall  become  brothers  in  the  great  hinship. 

And  there  the  lion’s  ruddy  eyes 

Shall  flow  with  tears  of  gold, 

And  pitying  the  tender  cries 
And-  walking  round  the  fb  Id 
Saying:  -'rath  by  His  meehness, 

And  by  his  health  sichness, 

Are  driven  away 

Prom  our  immortal  day. 

And  now  beside  thee,  bleating  lamb, 

I can  lie  dovm  and  sleep, 

Or  thinh  on  Him  who  bore  thy  name, 

Graze  after  thee,  and  weep; 


-119- 


Por,  washed  in  life’s  river. 

My  bright  main  forever, 

Shall  shine  like  the  gold 

As  I guard  o'er  the  fold.  (1) 

5. 

In  the  discussion  of  Lilliam  ^owper's  poetry  and  life, 
I have  shown  how  humani  tari  anism  was  not.  only  compatible  vdth 
his  nature  but  was  also  congenial  to  the  CaiVinistic  "beliefs 
which  he  had  adopted  after  his  first  attach  of  madness.  In  the 
discussion  of  william  Blake’s  poetry  and  life,  I have  shown  how 
humani  tari anism  was  congenial  to  his  Christi  an- neo -Platonic 
mysticism.  In  the  discussion  of  Erasmus  Darwin’s  poetry  and 
the  elaborate  notes  which  he  attaches  to  his  works,  I shall 
show  how  congenial  humani  tari  anism  was  to  his  scientific  temper. 

Darwin  w as  graduated  from  Cambridge,  which  had  been, 
and  still  is,  the  school  of  his  family,  and  early  in  his  career 
he  evinced  the  scientific  talent  v/hich  lias  always  been  apparent 
among  his  people.  Several  Darwins  had  shorn,  a marked  aptitude 
for  botanical  investigation  before  his  time,  so  that  his  re- 
lation with  eighteenth  century  science  appears  not  to  have  been 
caused  solely  by  an  individual  bent.  Prom  Cambridge  he  went  to 
Edinburgh  for  his.  medical  instruction,  settling,  after  pro- 
ceeding to  his  degree,  at  Nottingham  and  later  moving  to  Lich- 
field, where  he  built  up  a practice  which  brought  him  both  fame 


(1)  Night,  p 89 


-120- 


and  fortune.  There  he  became  a member  of  an  intellectual  grou}  • 
He  met  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  during  his  English  sojourn,  and 
corresponded  with  him  after  his  return  to  his  own  country. 

Among  the  citizens  of  Lichfield  he  practised  his  pro- 
fession diligently  and  tirelessly,  winning  for  himself  the 
sobriquet  of  "the  benevolent"  because  of  his  gruff  but  kindly 
labor  among  the  poor  and  the  impecunious  lower  clergy  of  the 
diocese.  He  despised  cant,  it  is  said,  but  he  was  always  actively 
helpful  to  the  needy.  He  did  not  possess  Cowper’s  emotional 
religiosity;  yet  his  life  of  practical  charity  was  much  like 
that  of  the  poet  of  Olney.  At  Lichfield  he  established  a 
dispensary  and  constructed  a botanical  garden  which  afterward 
gave  him  the  inspiration  for  his  largest  poetical  work. 

His  principal  interest  for  the  modern  is  certainly 
not  because  he  was  a great  scientist  or  a great  poet,  nor  is 
it  because  his  personality  was  so  conspicuous  as  to  make  him  live 
in  the  memory  of  succeeding  ages.  It  is  because  in  science  he 
was  an  early  propounder  of  evolutionism,  in  which  field  his 
grandson  later  became  famous.  He  believed  with  Lamarck  that 
animals  purposefully  adapt  themselves  to  their  surroundings  (1), 
whereas  the  theory  of  Ms  grandson,  Charles  Darwin,  was  just 
the  opposite  . ilature  forces  the  adaptation.  The  animal  or  plant 
is  the  passive  object  of  external  forces.  In  Erasmus  Larv.ih, 
however,  we  can  see  how  the  romantic  theology  of  Blake  and  the 

(1)  Temple  of  nature . canto  II  L 50-1 


-121- 


Calvinistic  theology  of  Cowper  would  have  been  uncongenial . 
Science  to  him  was  far  from  an  unemotional  study,  hut  lie  always 
tries  to  base  his  system  upon  an  inductive  observation  of  life. 
He  is  near  to  the  deists  in  his  religious  beliefs  and  without 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  two  men  just  studied. 

His  poetry  is  written  in  the  closed  heroic  couplet 
of  Pope,  and  very  good  poetry  it  is,  so  far  as  xirosody  is  con- 
cerned. It  lias  a dignity  and  a sonorousness  that  make  it  pleas- 
ing to  the  modern  ear,  but  it  fails  to  excite  any  interest 
nowadays,  just  as  Darthfs  Dispensary  wit-hits  discussion  of 
oontemporary  scientific  facts  leaves  the  reader  as  drowsy  as  if 
he  had  taken  an  opiate.  There  is  beauty  in  some  of  his  lines 
and  even  distinction  of  diction;  there  are  emotional  passages, 
too,  as  he  tries  to  endow  the  plants  with  the  same  erotic 
character  that  animals  'possess.  Yet  the  history  of  poetry 
shows  that  human  experience,  human  feeling-,  human  aspiration, 
not  scientific  facts,  are  the  true  subjects  tor  poetical  ex- 
pression. A true  poem  should  strike  a responsive  note  in  the 
breast  of  the  reader,  and  Darwin  leaves  him  crancjuil  with  nis 
intellect  unstimulated  and  with  his  emotions  unappeased.  His 
poetical  theory  he  observes  meticulously  enough,  that  me 
subjects  of  verse  should  be  concrete  anci  Ghat  such  a subject 


-122- 


only  is  suitable  for  poetry.  (1)  The  truly  sublime,  he 
says,  is  best  expressed  in  prose,  and  abstractions  are  abhorrent 
to  the  true  poet.  Perhaps  this  explains  why  Darwin  is  ever 
anxious  to  personify  in  order  to  be  as  close  as  possible  on 
every  occasion  to  the  concrete,  but  no  subject  is  likely  to 
cause  a response  in  the  reader  when  he  must  constantly  have 
the  matter  of  the  poem  explained  to  him  by  a series  of  notes, 
and  every  page  of  Erasmus  Darwin  presents  to  the  eye  a few 
verses  and  a solid  mass  of  explanatory  matter. 

In  this  study  the  principle  most  apropos  is  the  Dar- 
winian theory  of  vital  democracy.  Blake  and  Cowper  establish 
their  democracy  in  God.  Darwin  establishes  his  democracy  in 
physical  nature.  Blake  would  have  us  love  all  things,  because 
all  are  parts  of  a One  to  which  everything  aspires  to  be  joined. 
Darwin  would  remind  us  that  the  experience  of  all  living  things 
is  the  same.  Regeneration  is  purely  physical.  Plants  have  the 
same  feelings  as  animals. 

Life  was  spontaneously  generated  in  the  beginning,  and 
after  that  time  has  been  continued  by  reproduction.  The  sub- 
stance from  which  all  tilings  are  created  is  never  destroyed  but 
undergoes  a perpetual  transmutation. 

The  wrecks  of  Death  are  but  a change  of  forms.  (2) 

(1)  L ove s o f the  Plant s , vol  II  Botanic  Garden , Interlude .Canto 
1 and.  11.  p 62-5. 

(2)  Temple  of  Nature,  Iy,  p 597 


-125- 


All  are  alike  in  the  toils  of  the  inexorable  rule  of  life.  7/hen 

a monarch  or  a mushroom  dies, the  organic  matter  remains  inert  for 

a while,  (l)  Then  from  the  body  springs  new  life,  spontaneously 

generated  from  the  decaying’  mass.  Mountain,  valley,  and  tree 

flourish  through  the  material  that  once  existed  in  another  form. 

Thus  the  tall  mountains,  that  emboss  the  lands 
Are  mighty  monuments  of  past  delight.  (2) 

The  titanic  battle,  however,  between  life  and  death  goes  on  with 

each  trying  to  conquer  the  other.  Life  builds.  Death  destroys. 

In  this  perpetual  conflict  Darwin  sees 

The  immense  munificence  of  nature’s  LordI  (5) 

The  laws  of  nature  are  the  creation  of  God  and  are  immutable# 

Man  may  discover  the  truth  through  his  reason  by  a study  c£  the 

external  world.  But  Darwin  does  not  accept  entirely  the 

deistic  position,  for  he  follows  pretty  closely  at  times  the 

biblical  histories. 

In  the  physical  scheme  that  the  poet-physician  builds 
up  the  attributes  of  sympathy  and  sensibility  hold  an  important 
place.  It  is  true  that  man  has  a larger  proportion  of  talents 
than  the  other  creatures  of  the  universe;  but  he  is,  nevertheless. 


(1)  Ibid,  IV,  L 585,  cf.  note  p 160. 

(2)  Ibid,  L 446  - 50 
(5)  Ibid,  L 456 


-124- 


like  them,  the  creature  of  nature  and  must  live  according  to  the 

rules.  Lien  and  beasts  alike  possess  "volitions",  which  differ  only 

in  degree.  These  volitions  are  the  agents  through  which  all  life 

selects  or  rejects  means  to  a desired  end.  Modern  science  would 

term  this  quality  instinct,  for  it  is  the  same  motivating  force 

which  prompts  a bird  to  line  its  nest  before  laying  its  eggs  and 

which  causes  the  bee  to  store  up  honey.  In  these  volitions  lies 

the  resemblance  between  man  and  beast.  (1) 

Wise  to  the  present,  nor  to  future  blind. 

They  link  the  reasoning  reptile  with  mankind! 

Sto&p,  selfish  Pride!  survey  they  kindred  forms. 

They  brother  Emmets,  and  thy  sister  Worms ! (2) 

To  show  how  all  organic  life  is  prompted  by  similar  emotions, 

Darwin  wrote  The  Loves  of  the  Plants  , an  interminable  poem  in 

which  he  describes  the  generation  of  plant  life,  applying  to 

vegetable  "amours"  the  same  terminology  that  he  would  apply  to 

human  passion,  the  same  terminology  for  plant  life  as  animal 

life.  Both  the  dormouse  and  the  tulip  hibernate  in  winter. 

Plants  protect  themselves  in  an  active  as  well  as  a passive 

way  against  their  enemies.  He  demonstrates  by  experiment  that 

plant  life  is  sensitive  to  light  and  darkness  and  to  certain 

stimuli  of  pleasure  and  pain.  They  adapt  themselves  to  their 


(1)  Temple  of  Nature  III  1 401 

(2)  Ibid,  1 451 


-125- 


surroundings,  In  The  Temple  o f Ilature  the  courtship  of  the 
flowers  becomes  fast  and  furious  vh  ile  the  gay  vegetables  engage 
in  "clandestine  loves"  and  quiver  with  amourous  woes. 

The  wakeful  Anther  in  Ms  silken  bed 
Ofer  the  pleased  Stigma  bows  his  waxen  head; 

With  meeting  lips  and  mingling  smiles  they  sup 
Ambrosial  dewdrops  from  the  nectar1  d cup; 

Or  buoy’d  in  air  the  plumy  Lover  springs. 

And  seeks  his  panting  bride  on  Hymen- wings . (1) 

The  analogy  between  plant  and  animal  life  is  never  forgotten. 

The  mimosa  has  a "nice  sense"  and  from  every  touch  chastely 

withdraws.  (2)  "She"  shuts  her  eyes  at  approaching  night  and 

feels  throughout  her  whole  being  the  approach  of  a storm.  It 

may  be  said,  of  course,  that  Darwin  was  speaking  figuratively, 

and  so  he  was;  but  he  supports  his  couplets  as  usual  with 

elaborate  notes,  thereby  proving  his  thesis  to  his  own  satisfaction. 

His  verses  are  based  very  often  upon  his  own  observations  and 

conclusions  which  he  obtained  from  experiments,  and  his  hooks 

contain  the  Jottings  of  a scientist  converted  into  poetry  and 

decorated  with  poetical  language. 

In  this  physical  world  where  men,  vo men,  plants,  and 

animals  are  composed  of  the  same  matter,  sympathy  and  benevolence 

are  the  highest  emotions  and  the  most  praiseworthy,  just  as 

certainly  as  they  are  in  the  ideal  world  of  William  Blake.  They 

ire  the  foundations  for  universal  love,  of  which  Darwin  had  his 

(l)  Temple  of  nature  II  1 26  5 

1 (2)  Loves  of  the  Plants.  I I 299  


-126- 


share;  for  he,  like  the  other  poets  discussed,  hated  slavery, 
whether  political  or  bodily. 

The  Seraph,  By^pathy,  from  Heaven  descends. 

We  are  in  such  close  accord  with  the  other  beings  of  the 
universe  that  "people  of  delicate  fibres"  have  been  known,  when 
seeing  others  in  pain,  to  feel  pain  in  the  same  parts  of  their 
bodies  as  those  injured  (5).  "Children,"  he  writes,  "should 
be  taught  in  their  early  education  to  feel  for  all  the  remediable 
evils,  which  they  observe  in  others;  but  they  should  at  the 
same  time  be  taught  sufficient  firmness  of  mind  not  entirely  to 
destroy  their  own  happiness  by  their  sympathizing  with  the 
numerous  irremediable  evils,  which  exist  in  the  present  system 
of  the  world;  as  by  indulging  that  kind  of  melancholy  they 
decrease  the  sum  total,  of  human  happiness;  which  is  so  far 
rather  reprehensible  than  commendable . " (2) 

The  purpose  of  this  study  of  Blake,  Cowper,  and  Darwin 
has  been  to  see  how  humanitarianism  manifested  itself  in  three 

.such  different  personalities the  one  a mystic,  the  second  a 

religious  enthusiast,,  the  third  a scientist.  By  virtue  of  their 
very  diversity,  they  should  occupy  the  most  important  place 

(1)  Temple  of  Hature.III  L 466,  iiote. 

(2)  Temple  of  nature.  Ill  note  to  1.  466. 


-127- 


in  any  study  of  this  phase  of  eighteenth  century  sentimentalism. 
They  show  how  congenial  humani tarianism  was  to  widely  different 
schools  of  thought  and  prove  that  this  movement  toward  a higher 
form  of  benevolence  was  not  the  exclusive  property  of  any  one 
school,  hut  that  it  was  adaptable  and  could  find  a place  in 
almost  any  philosophy  that  lias  long  prevailed.  To  Blake,  there 
was  a brotherhood  of  all  creatures  in  ideal  love;  to  Gowper 
there  was  a brotherhood  of  all  creatures  in  Christian  love;  to 
Darwin  there  was  a brotherhood  of  all  things,  organic  or  inorganic  , 
because  of  their  similar  physical  experience.  All  three  agree, 
though  they  have  come  to  their  conclusions  by  such  different  and 
devious  routes,  that  no  living  thing  may  be  mistreated;  for  the 
world  is  communal  property,  v/e  should  live  in  a society  of 
reciprocal  kindness,  though  it  be  the  ideal  kinship  of  Blake,  the 
spir itual^kinship  of  Cowper,  or  the  physical  kinship  of  Darwin. 


-128- 


CHAPTER  V 


G01TGLU3IQI. 

The  poetry  of  Cowper,  Blake,  and  Darwin  is  the  culmin- 
ation of  the  eighteenth  century  tendency  to  broaden  the  field 
of  human  sympathy  and  democracy.  It  shows  very  conclusively  how 
compatible  liumanitarianism  was  to  greatly  diversified  types  of 
thought  and  how  it  found  itself  in  complete  accord  with  the 
spiritual  in  Gov/per,  the  mystic  in  Blake,  and  the  scientific  in 
Darwin.  It  shows  that  humanitariani sm  was  not  the  property  of 
a single  group  but  of  many  which,  by  traversing  vastly  different 
paths,  arrived  at  the  same  conclusion,  that  all  must  live  to- 
gether in  harmony  and  mutual  accord,  because  the  experienc  es  of 
life,  though  differing  in  degree,  are  essentially  the  same  in 
all  creatures.  The  positions  of  these  three  poets  illustrate 
in  a remarkable  manner  the  eighteenth  century  desire  for  a 
larger  and  more  inclusive  democracy  and  a firm  belief  in 
universal  communism. 

I have  shown  how  the  seventeenth  century  held  the  view 
that  the  little  groups,  the  aristocracies  of  blood  and  intellect, 
loitering  in  the  ante-rooms  of  a restored  court,  depending  for 


-129- 


their  very  existence  on  a patron’s  gift,  excursioning  promis- 
cuously into  the  fields  of  art,  literature,  and  science,  were 
the  only  members  of  the  human  race  that  really  counted.  Theirs 
was  the  very  spirit  one  should  expect  to  find  surrounding  a mon- 
arch v/ hose  willing  genius  had  been  trained  in  the  royal  French 
philosophy  of  divine  right.  Society  was  exclusive,  nature 
meant  human  nature  as  they  observed  it  in  smart  drawing  rooms. 
The  great  mass  of  humanity  they  ignored.  They  accepted  the 
good  things  of  earth  as  their  own  due  and  looked  upon  all  other 
living  things  as  so  many  interesting  but  inferior  creatures 
whom  they  might  study,  dissect,  or  destroy.  The  ’’noble  savage” 
was  a literary  convention  of  the  heroic  stage  or  the  object  of 
the  competitive  zeal  of  warring  sects. 

This  attitude  was  caused  by  the  suddenness  with  which 
the  problems  of  physical  phenomena  presented  themselves  to 
human  curiosity.  Pseudo-science  was  partly  to  blame  for  the 
indifference  of  the  century  to  suffering  a.nd  the  rights  of 
the  majority.  Yet  pseudo-science  was  also  pa,rtly  the  cause  of 
the  changing  point  of  view.  The  world  was  full  of  mysteries , and 
the  seventeenth  century  abhorred  mysteries.  Investigation  pro- 
ceeded heartlessly,  but  it  eventually  showed  the  investigator 
the  similarity  of  human  experience.  The  conception  of  nature 


-150- 


began  to  broaden.  The  conventional  idea  of  Christian  brother- 
hood began  to  revive.  The  oppression  of  slaves  is  contrary  to 
Christian  precepts.  But  the  energetic  investigators  also  en- 
larged their  idea  of  nature  and  observed  the  organic  and  psycho- 
logical resemblance  between  races.  Consequently,  to  Addison 
and  Defoe  oppression  of  one  race  by  another  was  abhorrent  on 
both  natural  and  Christian  grounds.  Hence,  the  )elief  became 
prevalent  that  this  is  not  the  world  of  only  a few  but  of  all 
men,  regardless  of  color  or  place  of  residence. 

At  the  same  time  the  deist,  rejecting  revelatory 
evidence  for  the  knowledge  gained  through  science  and  reasnn, 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  world  is  ruled  by  a kindly  and 
loving  deity;  and,  of  course,  cruelty  could  not  be  pleasing  to 
such  a ruler.  Man  should  act  upon  His  example  and  be  kind. 

All  men  are  essentially  alike,  and  even  animals  should  be  treat- 
ed with  compassion.  At  the  same  time  the  nature  poets,  a few 
of  whom  belonging  to  the  aforementioned  class,  began  to  write  of 
the  real  country,  rejecting  the  neo-classicist’s  desire  to  do- 
mesticate Attic  shepherds  in  an  English  landscape.  Animals  were 
a part  of  the  re-discovered  genre,  and  the  natural  affection  that 
British  poets  have  always  felt  for  animal  life  again  found  ex- 
pression. Man,  said  the  first  nature  poet £, is  a benevolent  dictat- 
or. 


-151- 


V/ith  this  idea  gaining  new  literary  adherents,  the  centur  y 
progressed  through  both  logic  and  emotion  to  new  conceptions  of 
the  relations  between  the  creatures.  Hunting,  the  favorite 
English  sport,  was  an  institution  for  which  apology  must  be 
made.  Only  the  non-social  animals  might  be  pursued.  At  the  time 
of  the  American  war,  we  find  Humphrey  Primatt  applying’  the 

doctrine  of  Rousseauism that  man  is  entitled  to  life, 

liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  to  all  living  creatures; 

and  the  compassion  of  the  earlier  poets  became  an  active 
sympathy  in  Gowper.  The  democracy  of  the  creatures  had 
arrived.  The  idea  of  Christian  communism  was  expanding.  In 
the  neo-Platonic  philosophy  of  Blake,  the  relationship  of 
man,  beast,  and  clod  is  based  upon  the  kinship  of  all  thirg  s 
in  the  One.  There  is  no  favoritism  in  God,  for  nothing  is 
without  a use;  and  love  and  altruism  are  the  highest  goods. 

In  the  deity  all  man,  worms,  clods,  and  the  devil  

are  parts.  Darwin  arrives  at  the  same  conclusion.  He  champion- 
ed the  cause  of  altruism,  but  his  method  was  that  of  scientific 
investigation  instead  of  mystical  experience*  There  is 
similarity,  he  found,  in  the  vital  experience  of  all  things, 
and  even  the  mountain  is  but  a record  of  "past  joys”.  His 
life  he  made  a practical  observance  of  this  scientific 
democracy. 


-132- 


Y/hat  has  been  the  result  of  this  humanitarian 
movement  which  bent  all  philosophies  to  its  purpose  and  which 
became  so  congenial  to  such  different  personalities  and  tem- 
peraments? The  power  of  the  movement  at  the  end  of  the  century 
had  just  begun  in  poetry,  liberal  thought,  and  practical  re- 
form. It  enriched  poetry  and  gave  us  much  literature  of  a 
high  quality  which  otherwise  we  should  have  missed.  Because 
of  its  constant  emphasis  on  altruism  and  benevolence  it  se- 
cured in  England  a hospitable  reception  for  liberal  thought, 
such  as  the  utilitarianism  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It 
was  responsible  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade.  It 
advanced  the  cause  of  a larger  democracy  and  a higher  com- 
munism, not,  of  course,  without  an  enormous  amount  of  naus- 
eating cant,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  practical  reforms 
of  the  revolutionary  era  to  come. 


3 13L IQ  GRAPHICAL 
IIjDEa  . 


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